Eduardo Eurnekian joined the National Academy of Business Sciences: “We are in a difficult time, but we are working”

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“As long as the State acts on the education of future generations, with a coordinated action, oriented to the formation of qualified professional cadres, and at the height of a highly competitive world, favoring equal opportunities, the private sector will be the one who can give horizon and protect those talents who, without local stimuli, will seek more auspicious spaces to develop. It is possible that one day those who seek these new paths and that personal need for expression, are archetypes such as Alberdi, Avellaneda or Sarmiento, that express new slogans such as: "Every Argentine citizen must know how to read, write and program" and our future is that "to govern is to robotize."

With those words about the future, businessman Eduardo Eurnekian finalized the speech at the ceremony in which he entered the National Academy of Business Sciences. It occupies today the Sitial Otto Sebastián Bemberg, the entrepreneur who founded Cervecería Quilmes.
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Eurnekian at UADE

In an emotional act, which was attended by much of the so-called "red circle" in Argentina, the president of the Academy, Jorge Aufiero, welcomed him and the academic Santiago Soldati reviewed the very extensive trajectory of the owner of Corporación América, since its inception in the textile world, in the company of his immigrant family, his passage through the media - even as a war correspondent in Kuwait - and the founding of Cablevisión, until now the diversified holding in agriculture and vineyards, financial businesses, oil, technology and, of course, airports. América Airports Corporation is listed on Wall Street and is the largest private operator in the world. Many of these businesses have a presence in Armenia, the land of their parents, where he was declared a National Hero, the highest recognition for a civilian in that country.

"I am very excited for this recognition," Eurnekian told Infobae. “I think about the day, the moment, the things that can be done, beyond good will. Things are done by working on a daily basis and focusing immediately, ”he said.
Eurnekian at UADE

He talked about expecting an Argentina in which things improve and in which everyone has the necessary resources to progress, be competitive and grow the country. “We are in a complicated moment, but it works out. Of course, you have to be clear about things, know that what you do is useful for something. If not, time is wasted. You have to have order, temperance and, above all, a plan, ”he said.

Pride and reference of his colleagues

“Eduardo is a pride. He is a reference and a person from whom we all have a lot to learn, with that desire and that energy that his career has had, ”said Marcos Bulgheroni, CEO of Pan American Energy. “He is an extraordinary entrepreneur. An innovator who looks at technology and the future. Hopefully Argentina will look at innovators like him to never look back, ”added Cristiano Rattazzi of FIAT. Miguel Acevedo, head of the UIA, also highlighted his career and his part in Malvinas, to the construction of the cenotaph and his contribution to the identification of fighters buried there.

“He is one of the most prestigious businessmen in Argentina with a tenacity that age has not broken. That is why it represents the values of private initiative and a worldview of integration and presence in the world, in a very competitive activity such as airports, ”said Daniel Funes de Rioja, of Copal.

Excited, Carlos Potikian, a former partner and friend of Eurnekian for 82 years - he is only seven months older - said that they did elementary school together at La Salle School. “And we both left in high school. We work 19 years together, in textile and media businesses. At one point I said enough and I retired, but we always remain great friends. I feel the older brother, and I am very proud of my younger brother, ”he said in the cocktail after the ceremony.

The event was also attended by the ambassadors of Brazil and England, Sergio França Danese and Mark Kent, and the local ambassador to Switzerland, Luis María Kreckler. Also Matías Patanian, vice president of AA2000; Carolina Barros, Communications Director of Corporación América; Daniel Simonutti, director of Corporación America; and Guillermo Francos, president of Wilobank, the digital holding bank.

The so-called Group of Six had a full presence: Daniel Pelegrina (Rural Society); Acevedo (UIA), Jorge Di Fiori (Chambers of Commerce), Julio Craveri (Construction), Adelmo Gabbi (Stock Exchange) and Javier Bolzico (Association of Argentine Banks).
Cristiano Rattazzi, Eurnekian and Enrique Nosiglia
Cristiano Rattazzi, Eurnekian and Enrique Nosiglia

Others present: Julio Macchi, Eduardo Gruneisen, Gustavo Weiss, Cristiano Rattazzi, Eduardo de Zavalía, former Foreign Minister Adalberto Rodríguez Giavarini, Jorge Argüello, Jorge Asis, Marcelo Elizondo, Jorge Fontevecchia, Enrique Nosiglia, Juan Bautista Jofre, Daniel Marx, José Luis Manzano, Liliana Parodi, Vilma Ibarra, Gustavo Cinosi and Daniel Hadad, founder and CEO of Infobae, among others.

Bemberg and Mosconi

The businessman's speech was titled "An Argentine paradox: parallel lives, countries that diverge" and reviewed the work and vision of Bemberg and General Enrique Mosconi, vacant armchairs of the academy among which he had to choose.
Carlos Potikian, former partner and friend of Eurnekian for 82 years
Carlos Potikian, former partner and friend of Eurnekian for 82 years

“After reflecting on this and when choosing between both chairs, it is obvious that I felt prone to the representation of the private sector, which, respecting the rules of the game and promoting the genuine role of the company, manages to grow on the basis of free competition, differentiation and excellence. That is, continue with the line that will be drawn - and well represented - by Don Otto Bemberg. The entrepreneur as such competes in pure tension, adrenaline and heart - without protections that relax the effort and creative energies brought by the first immigrants of the 19th century, ”he said.

He also carried out an analysis between the complementary roles that the State and the private sector must fulfill. "The higher the ideal image we have of ourselves, the greater our blind spots, a blindness that a country cannot afford, particularly if it intends to be inserted in an acceleratedly dynamic global environment," the brand new academic concluded.