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Ezequiel Olmos and Ana Maria Echeverria
Paxeos
Paxeos offers reliable and comfortable transportation services in order to improve the tourism experience in Nicaragua. Paxeos provides shuttle, charter and corporate services to and from the principal tourist destinations in Nicaragua, including Granada and San Juan del Sur, at a much higher quality than local taxi standards and cheaper than hotels' private services.
For Paxeos's location, please click here.
Consulting Focus: Ezequiel and Ana Maria launched Paxeos in January of 2007. By the time Agora became involved, Paxeos had reached a level of $5,000 a month in sales, but stagnated due to lack of marketing and fleet capacity. Agora helped Paxeos develop a plan for a marketing blitz, including an internet-based strategy, and to expand fleet capacity.
"My whole life, even before knowing the word entrepreneur or what it means, I knew I was born for a life of challenges and accomplishments, a life of undertaking different endeavors all the way until reaching my goals... One rule of thumb I have every time I engage in a new business venture is to look at it from the customer's perspective, of course keeping in mind that any business has to be both financially and socially profitable. It is really important to jump into the water, and overcome the fear of making mistakes... but it is more important to learn from them and make this learning process a strengthening asset. My wife and I, as a team, are a good complement, since I am very patient, and like to study and analyze every decision to the maximum level of detail, while she is very active and wants to take action immediately. Both facets are necessary for success in any business, but only jumping in the water gives you the edge and vision to know when to act, and when to wait."
"My whole life... I knew I was born for a life of challenges and accomplishments"
"We are from Colombia originally, and being foreigners, we lacked a network of local contacts, and that is usually a really difficult barrier to go through. Sometimes it is even more difficult than having cash shortages. In this specific aspect, we believe Agora can play a key role within our organization. They have a team of great people, really committed to their mission. Going to business [school] faculties for one, and letting people in general know Agora exists is a necessary step... because it would create a deeper interest in forming entrepreneur-oriented professionals instead of the traditional Latin American culture of employed professionals."
"[We believe in] creating a culture of service... our promise is to provide a high standard of quality at reasonable prices, competing honestly, and growing in the market of the tourist industry that is so needed in this county. We believe in business assertiveness and in being proactive, we believe in going a step ahead; and overall we believe in spreading what we know in the hopes of not only creating positive externalities, but getting feedback from all the players involved. All these things, in turn, become a virtuous circle that should strengthen not only our company, but the whole industry." - Ezequiel Olmos