Pablo Campana was a professional tennis player in the nineties. At the moment, he admits that he has never enjoyed playing this sport as much as he does now as a real estate developer with his own Millenium company, the Campana Organization, which he founded in 2012 after fifteen years at Nobis and Pronobis. With more than fifteen projects under his belt in less than twelve years, Campana tells Diario EL UNIVERSO who has been his inspiration, his learning and his future plans.

How did your dream to become a real estate developer and this company come about?

When I was 22 years old and a professional tennis player, I already dreamed of one day being a real estate entrepreneur. When I was once asked what I do when entering Los Angeles at the immigration office, I told him: I build, when I was in transit on my way to Canada to play the Davis Cup and I was a tennis player, I didn’t build anything, not even my house, I don’t know why I said that.

How did this anecdote end?

They sent us to the room, s Skinny (Raúl) Viver, to investigate why I lied. I had it in my subconscious, it was my thing.

Did you already know you were going to be a real estate developer?

There was also another anecdote. I always admired former President Donald Trump, I really admired him in his big phase of real estate development, because of everything he did in New York: Trump Plaza, Trump Tower, Trump Park, I followed him a lot in real estate, I always leaned on that way.

Pablo Campana: This is the time when investors, entrepreneurs and business people are most needed to create in the country

Was Donald Trump your inspiration?

Of course.

Is there a similarity in the names of your projects, such as Millennium Park and Millennium Tower, with those you mentioned?

Of course, here everyone is Millenium, there everyone is Trump. Before I became the President of the United States, I read a book by Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki, and some phrases from that book struck a chord with me. Then I went to New York, I was at Donald Trump’s house, in Trump Tower, to ask for his autograph and he gave it to me and put Think big on it and that message stuck with me.

I know that sometimes we don’t have the capital to invest, but we have to look for partners, allies, and to a lesser extent, cooperation, association, is the only way to succeed because the checkbook will never get us what we want. does.

When did you start to see your dream of owning your own company crystallize?

I worked for fifteen years in the Nobis consortium, and in 2008 I was part of Pronobis in the real estate department until 2012 when I decided to fly, undertake, start looking for financing, strategic alliances; and it didn’t go well at first. I went looking for partners in Quito, Guayaquil, Cuenca, Miami, New York and London and I ran into one wall after another and couldn’t find a way out.

Then I went to Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, where they care a lot about the social conscience of business people and entrepreneurs. I was successful, because I managed to gain the trust of people who do not live in our country in my projects, and we did not stop there.

What was your first alliance?

A Belgian citizen, his first investment with us was $545,000 and since then it’s just been work and growth; and he is no longer an investor, there are several of them, because in order to develop so many projects, to buy so much land, I had to go out and look for investments, set up projects, present and establish a work team.

How many projects does Pablo Campana have?

At the moment, I have eleven projects in progress, some are in the commercialization phase, others are in construction, others are in the delivery phase; and I’ve already completed another six, 17 projects like Millenium and additionally the ones I ran in another developer in the past.

What was your first building with Millenium, when you could already say: I built?

Quo building in front of Sonesta, next to Mall del Sol, then Solaris building, then Platinum 1, Platinum 2 and so on little by little. Actually, I am not a builder, I am a promoter, a developer who is in charge of planning, land purchase, commercialization, billing, I do tenders or cooperate with the most important construction companies and contractors in the country, I am a true believer in strategic partnerships, I always try to work with the same team.

How do you currently analyze the real estate sector in Ecuador?

It is a country of opportunity, dollarized with hard-working people, with good weather all year round, well geographically located, which has its problems like all the countries of the world (…) You can make your homeland from the private sector without being on a platform, without convincing people to vote for you.

You were also in the public sector as the Minister of Production and Foreign Trade, what did that experience leave you with?

It was the best professional experience I had in my life, because I had the opportunity to serve the country and support so many people who need it so much, because from the private sector we see only the economy, and in the public sector it is the economy, part Political, public, social part and we understand in a better way what Ecuador needs… It made me more humane, more supportive because I understood the problems and shortcomings that the country has.

The macro business round table was officially opened with recognition of former minister Pablo Campana

Was that learning reflected in actions?

After the public sector established the Campana Foundation, together with social work functions, European foundations, in a short time we served more than 7,000 citizens without any costs, they were supported. In addition, we support entrepreneurial programs for producers in the El Carmen area hand in hand with the American non-profit organization PADF (Pan American Development Foundation). And we are waiting to do a big project with USAID (United States Agency for International Development) to recover mangroves in the country.

What is the future of Millennium?

I don’t know about the future… but what I am committed to is continuing to develop projects. In April, I’m going to Europe again, I’ll talk to 58 potential investors so they can invest with us in Ecuador, because you can’t do it alone, you have to look for those strategic partners; and we hope to bring good results because one of them will be for the big hospital I plan to build in Guayaquil.