WEGrow A success story: Gigliola Aycardi Batista Colombian high-growth woman entrepreneur

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1 WEGrow A success story: Gigliola Aycardi Batista Colombian high-growth woman entrepreneur

2 Gigliola Aycardi Batista: A Colombian high-growth woman entrepreneur 2 About the MIF The Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) works to support economic growth and poverty reduction in Latin America and the Caribbean through the promotion of investment and private sector development. As part of its program, the MIF seeks to support entrepreneurs and small and medium enterprises by creating a favorable ecosystem for early stage financing through angel investing, seed capital, and entrepreneurship. For more information, please visit About EY EY is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. The insights and quality services we deliver help build trust and confidence in the capital markets and in economies over the world. We develop outstanding leaders who team to deliver our promises to all of our stakeholders. In doing so, we play a critical role in building a better working world for our people, for our clients and for our communities. For more information about our organization, please visit: This publication forms part of the study WEGrow: Unlocking the Growth Potential of Women Entrepreneurs in Latin America and the Caribbean. It was commissioned by the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF), a member of the Inter- American Development Bank (IDB), to EY. It has been prepared by EY Mexico with the cooperation and supervision of the MIF s Early Stage Equity Group. The following people participated in the review process from the MIF: Susana Garcia- Robles, Monica Pina Alzugaray, Rebeca Granda Marcos, Xuan-Trang Ho and Elizabeth Terry Inter-American Development Bank. All rights reserved; may be freely reproduced for any non-commercial purpose. The opinion expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Inter- American Development Bank, its Board of Directors, or the countries they represent Mancera S.C. Member of Ernst & Young Global All rights reserved 2

3 Gigliola Aycardi Batista: A Colombian high-growth woman entrepreneur 3 Gigliola Aycardi was born in Colombia. Her father worked in customs and her mother took care of the household. Gigliola lived in Ocaña, Santander, until she was 13 years old, when her family moved to Bogota as her father s work required him to travel there constantly. Gigliola holds a bachelor in industrial engineering from Universidad Javeriana. After receiving this degree, she began to think about starting her own business, and enrolled in an MBA program at the Universidad de los Andes. HOW DID SHE GET STARTED? While studying for her MBA, Gigliola took a course in marketing management, which required her to develop an idea for a business. With this in mind, she discussed the assignment with her classmate Nicolás, who would later became her business partner. They used one of Nicolas personal experiences as a starting point for their venture. Since Nicolás had to drive a long distance to get to the gym, both Gigliola and he identified an opportunity in the health and fitness industry, as they realized that many could be in the same situation as Nicolás. Thus, they started discussing and developing a business plan for a new gym. This plan would bring a new gym concept to the market, as their fitness club would focus on improving the quality of life and health of its members. WHAT CHALLENGES DID SHE FACE? People would always say to me: Did you go through 5 years of college and 2 years for your MBA just to manage a gym? According to Gigliola, back in the day, the perception of a gym wasn t that positive. People had in mind that men would set up small gyms in their garages for their wives to manage and stay busy. On top of all this, access to finance was another challenge for her and her partner. They brought their project to different investors in an effort to find funding to get their idea off the ground, but these efforts proved fruitless. It was during these hard times that they heard about Colombia s National Guarantee Fund, which is a governmentsponsored guarantor of commercial loans for entrepreneurs without access to financing, people just like Gigliola and her business partner at that time. After finishing her degree and landing a number of job interviews, Gigliola decided to turn her university project, called Bodytech, into a real startup. She kept in mind the fact that before graduate school she would never last long when working for others. In my last year of school, one of our professors used to tell my class that we were mercenaries because we didn t even last one year in our jobs. 3

4 Gigliola Aycardi Batista: A Colombian high-growth woman entrepreneur 4 Through this fund, they were able to obtain half of the startup capital they needed, with the other half coming from their own resources. Gigliola s mother decided to help her by taking out a mortgage loan against her home and loaned the money to her daughter. They founded Bodytech in June 1997 and expected to be able to open their first gym in October or November of that year. However, due to financing issues, their project was stalled for several months. In February, 1998 they finally opened the first branch. It takes a lot of work and passion, as well as family support. Gigliola says that women are used to being the ones who take care of the home and raise children. This is why, when a woman decides to become an entrepreneur, she needs to have her family s support to help her find the right balance between the needs of her family and the needs of her company. INNOVATION: PENETRATING NEW MARKETS Initially, Gigliola and Nicolás estimated they would have one thousand members by the end of their first six months, but they exceeded this prediction within the first month, with over 1,800 customers. They were very confident about their business, as they have found a business model that was successful in Colombia, and within a short period of time they became the number one sports club chain in the country. Given this success, in 2002 they began to work on their expansion plans. Bodytech enjoyed a success that we had never imagined. It exceeded all of our expectations. Bodytech is a chain of medical sports clubs. As a company that provides health care services it is dedicated to improving the quality of life of its members through regular exercise and health care products and services. Its value proposition is its team of sports physicians, nutritionists and physiotherapists that are able to provide their customers with personalized training programs based on their specific needs for their continued health and wellbeing. WHAT ARE SOME LESSONS LEARNED FROM EXPERIENCE? According to Gigliola, their success can be attributed to the following: 1. They have surrounded themselves with people who know more. Gigliola and Nicolás created an executive board that has provided invaluable expert guidance and support that has contributed to Bodytech s growth. 2. They have reinvented themselves in response to global trends in living better, being healthier, and developing a culture focused on self-care. 3. Their customers always come first and as a result, they have adapted their service and product offerings to meet specific market needs. 4

5 Gigliola Aycardi Batista: A Colombian high-growth woman entrepreneur 5 Gigliola knows that the team is the key to the success of any service company and that a company is nothing without the people that provide the service. I consider myself a leader who works side by side with her employees. WHAT ARE HER AMBITIONS? I want Bodytech to be among the top five companies in our sector worldwide. We are currently number 15. To make it to the top five, we need to have more than 250 clubs and thus, what we need is people to help us get there. Gigliola thought that expanding Bodytech internationally would be relatively easy, given the company s success in Colombia. However, three years after launching the operation in Peru, she had to move there to help her company, since it was not achieving the expected growth rates. Since Gigliola moved to Peru, Bodytech has become the country s number one fitness chain, and the business is still growing. Recently they acquired a chain of gyms in Chile (Sportlife). It would be a lie if I told you that back when we started out I thought that Bodytech would someday grow into such a large company. We wanted a formal business, but back then we never thought we would be as big as we are today. After deciding to take their company international, Gigliola and Nicolás turned to the financial sector to secure the capital they needed for this expansion. Since their debt capacity was relatively low due to the terms of their other loans, they refinanced their debt from three to five years. The bank took this as a sign that they were unable to repay their loan, and it immediately froze their drawdowns. Eventually, after explaining to the bank why they did what they did, they were able to secure the funding they had applied for. Best advice ever received Greatest mistake ever made Entrepreneurs should pay themselves a salary as if they were employees. Asking the bank for more loans to grow my company without knowing how to justify why I needed it. 5

6 Gigliola Aycardi Batista: A Colombian high-growth woman entrepreneur 6 WHAT IS THE BEST ADVICE SHE CAN SHARE? Gigliola says that it is important to keep in mind that as entrepreneurs, women do not just have obligations to their families, but also to their employees, their customers and their business communities. FROM ENTREPRENEUR TO ENTREPRENEUR, THREE PRACTICAL TIPS FOR BECOMING SUCCESSFUL: Work, work and work. Fight for your dreams. Don t accept NO from anyone. You know your business better than anyone else. Trust yourself and believe in what you do. Be happy doing what you do..: I ve been at this for 16 years and before I did not last more than a year in any job. I love what I do. 6

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8 Gigliola Aycardi Batista: A Colombian high-growth woman entrepreneur 8 We re making it our purpose to help build a better working world, starting with yours. ey.com/betterworkingworld Facebook: EY_Mexico Multilateral Investment Fund 1300 New York Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C mifcontact@iadb.org Facebook: fominbid 8