I was trying to decide on which agency might best represent me in my freelance career when my elder brother and cousin flew in from the Dominican Republic,
recalls Amelia.
They wanted to have a serious discussion with me about the future of our family business back home. It was a time of transition in the family, as many of the generation before us were now in their eighties.
Founded almost a century and a half previously, Grupo Vicini was a great Dominican success story. Having begun its existence in agriculture and commerce, it had subsequently diversified into multiple sectors, including financial services, energy, real estate and tourism.
Over the years, this venerable organization had also withstood colonial conflicts, military uprisings, occupation, and a thirty-year period of authoritarian rule.
Transformation
As the family members pondered the possibilities, their vision began to take shape. Grupo Vicini could continue its evolution, they thought, by becoming a private asset management firm. The organization would seed other managers who would invest the capital in longterm projects focused upon the Northern Latin America region, a part of the world often overlooked by global investors.
I felt really engaged in the whole process,
explains Amelia. I suddenly started to get very excited about the prospect of being a fourth-generation family member helping to transform our company. We had this great sense of responsibility and stewardship, and about striking a path into the future. And we were definitely thinking long-term, asking ourselves where we saw the business in, say, sixty years’ time.