With more than a decade of experience in the management and creation of digital business models, Guillermo Varela was elected president of the Chamber of the Digital Economy of Uruguay (CEDU).
Varela, CEO of Handsoft S.A. and director of Plexo, will succeed the founding partner of the guild and general manager of Esquemas.Com, Marcelo Montado, who became vice president. Carlos Acle, treasurer of the business organization and CEO of OneTree, and the secretary Leonardo Álvarez, partner and CEO of Fenicio Ecommerce, will also remain in office.
"Most of the team will be made up of members who were already on the board, to which will be added other members who approached with the intention of contributing. The affiliated companies and those that may become affiliated are rich in human resources, so my expectation is to get a good group, willing to work, which is the important thing," said Varela.
In this second period, the authorities of CEDU will work on strengthening the organization, which is made up of about 90 companies, seeking to double that participation. The new board will focus on a series of strategies aimed at informing and achieving a greater social response to issues related to the digital economy.
"The idea is to broaden our base of actions and get other actors in society to engage in decision making, in the exchange of opinions and in the substantiation of policies for the sector. It is necessary to know how the digital economy works in other countries of the region and the world," said Varela, who is also an entrepreneurship consultant and professor at Universidad ORT Uruguay.
A self-confessed lover of football and reading, the businessman decided to run for the presidency of CEDU because he felt the need to devote more time to the organisation. "I'm not one of the founding members, but I've been with them practically since the beginning. At that time I had a financial transaction product that grew into a company, and when that happened, I joined," he said.
Varela, who has been a member of the most important business groups in the country, including the Uruguayan Chamber of Information Technology (Cuti), points out that lack of knowledge is one of the main obstacles faced by companies that still do not offer their products and services online.
"Our challenge is to make it easier for businesses to sell online. We must also continue to work to keep people's trust in electronic transactions. The digital economy and the use of the tools linked to it are no longer a matter of innovation or marketing, but are part of the business or are the business itself. Uruguayans find it a bit difficult to adapt to change," he said.
To contribute to this adaptation, CEDU will continue to develop training and networking meetings, trade missions and conferences such as eCommerce DAY and CIBERLUNES®, a proposal that has established itself among Uruguayans as the day of discounts on Internet shopping.
Connect