EMSNOW Mexico Interview: Luis Aguirre, Co-founder IGNITE

IGNITE was founded by Luis Aguirre and Carlos Castellanos two years ago, with the purpose of helping companies grow in a constant and sustainable way. We caught up with  CEO Luis Aquirre to find out more about his company and his insights into business in Mexico. 

EMSNOW: Please describe your consultancy in Mexico and your role within the organization

We are basically focused on companies with sales are around 50 to 100 million dollars. My role is CEO, with two responsibilities; one of them is strategic, and the other to focus on operations. As consultants what we do is an analysis of our clients, then we make a diagnostic to correct and/or validate their main strategy, and from that point we jump to the execution  to create a system that enables the organization to follow the strategy. We are focused on helping them to define  where to focus their efforts,  help establish distribution channels, looking at the reality of the company to focus on the segment where they can be most successful. We help them create a viable business, with metrics and the human resources in place, along with the marketing strategies to increase the market share.

EMSNOW: How do you advise clients to weather black swan events like the pandemic? How do you help clients grow even during challenging times?

During the pandemic, we worked very hard to support our clients, we developed a clear methodology for it, the most important is to stay very close to your customers. The primary recommendation was to remove every aspect that creates friction between the company and their clients, helping them to grow as a team to go forward. Then we look at the industries that have grown during the pandemic, identify them and offer services to those, so you can be resilient enough to capture new business.

What experience do you have in the manufacturing industry in Mexico

Personally I worked for many years in the manufacturing industry. With IGNITE we provide consultant services to manufacturers that have operations in México but 100% of their products go out of the country.  We have created a strategy to generate demand, so they don’t rely only on engineering and product development, so they don’t get caught in the inertia of the PO of their clients; instead we help them to uncover the strength and the potential value add of the company. We developed a system to detect the growth opportunities.

What type of industrial clients come to you for help?

Various!! Especially clients from manufacturing industries, and we notice that those companies are so very focused on production, that they don’t have the chance to develop the market. Large production facilities and infrastructure doesn’t necessarily mean big sales so we help to generate demand and healthy growth.

What advice do you have for companies managing volatile swings in demand, for example, the automotive industry?

Our advice is to map all the sales possibilities, use your capabilities to open new areas and opportunities; you have to keep looking at the growth industries, so you don’t depend only on the one you are working in, be aware that one client can not be more than 15% of your sales, you have to expand.

Obviously stay very close to your customers, but if raw materials are not available, you have to diversify and adapt to different industries.

What do you see as the long range outlook for the manufacturing industry in Mexico?

I see it as totally positive, even with the political issues. Mexico is a country full of opportunities. The internal market is very big, around 130 million inhabitants. But companies are also looking to export to USA and Canada. We have the capacity and the workforce for production – skilled technicians, etc. The USA has noticed that being only in Asia is not the best approach, so having a presence in México has many advantages. We at IGNITE understand the markets, the location, our capabilities, and skills. We can not deny that the political issues can affect how the rest of the world looks at us, but our advantages are more than the issues that we are confident are going to pass.

Is there anything else you’d like to say to our audience?