Washington DC — Today the Georgetown University Latin America Leadership Program at the McDonough School of Business and The Center for the Advancement of the Rule of Law in the Americas at Georgetown Law School, in collaboration with the HUGE Business and Investment Council, held the inaugural session of a series of programs on Nearshoring and Sustainable Investment in the Americas. This course will explore how new regulatory frameworks and economic issues could benefit or challenge the Latin American region across different sectors while co-designing potential alternative solutions to applied scenarios and discussions. Through its Founders, HUGE has invited 43 participants from private sector companies in the United States and Central America, and multinational companies with operations in the region, law firms, investors, and international organizations, to this program from which they will graduate and receive a diploma in five weeks.
The United States, Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador all have a historic opportunity to capitalize on the competitive advantages of nearshoring through coordinated regional activities. The HUGE (Honduras, USA, Guatemala, El Salvador) Business and Investment Council represents the first joint effort of private sector job creators from all three Central American countries and their United States counterparts to drive massive job creation in these countries. The goal of HUGE is to contribute to the creation of the American Dream in the Northern Triangle through the generation of sustainable jobs, effectively reducing one of the critical causes of illegal immigration to the United States.
“Nearshoring is a smart opportunity for shaping the future of Latin America, it could add an annual $78 billion in additional exports of goods and services in the region in the near and medium term (according to a report from the IDB). Our program is bringing together private sector leaders from the region who can drive change in this economic climate. We have designed a multidisciplinary program that will help them be prepared to be local partners to foreign investors,” said Ricardo Ernst, Baratta Chair Professor in Global Business and Supply Chain and Executive Director of the Latin America Leadership Program at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University, during the opening ceremony of the program.
HUGE Founders Banco Cuscatlan and Banco Ficohsa both sponsored at least 10 participants each from El Salvador and Honduras respectively, and Banco Industrial mobilized several participants from Guatemala. Federico Nasser, President, Inversiones Cuscatlan commented, “As Founders of HUGE, our mission is to make the Northern Triangle a point of reference for investment in Central America. That is why we are preparing entrepreneurs in our countries to take advantage of nearshoring opportunities and become the business partners that any American entrepreneur would want to have. The program developed by Georgetown University for HUGE that we are launching today is a concrete step in the development of nearshoring and massive job creation for our countries.”
Camilo Atala, President of the Executive Board of Grupo Financiero Ficohsa also offered comments: “We have made this program available to our customers to help them understand the practical implications of nearshoring opportunities and paradigm shifts in supply chains, as well as the technical, commercial, legal, and general challenges of conducting better business through real world examples. They will have the opportunity to learn about the different actors involved and network with other business leaders in the Northern Triangle and the United States. I am excited about Ficohsa’s collaboration with all of you here today as we work together to create the American dream at home for all the people of Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. Creating jobs is one of the best ways to contribute to the prosperity of the region and that is our main goal.”
“The Georgetown program, in collaboration with HUGE, focuses on specific business, legal, and public policy issues related to nearshoring opportunities for the United States, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, and will address how investors can integrate a sustainable development lens as part of their investment strategies to prevent environmental, social and governance risks. We are very pleased to collaborate with Professor Ricardo Ernst and his colleagues at Georgetown University to offer you such a program, with the support of Ficohsa and Banco Cuscatlán,” said Dr. Juan José Daboub, President of the HUGE Business & Investment Council.