Spring 2015 Issue
> CFI.co Meets the President of Maran Group:
Mario Terán del Río
T
he cachanilla is a type of plant that not just survives, but thrives, in the hot desert climate of the Mexicali Valley in the north-west of Mexico. Cachanilla is also the term for people born in the area. Mario Terán, President of Maran Group, is cachanilla through-and-through: he was born in Mexicali and has lived his entire life in the area. He has great pride in his home town and its hardy people. Mr Terán is the definition of a self-made man: he began his life as an entrepreneur at a young age, selling fertiliser and seed to local farmers. As he grew up, so did his ambitions and his companies. Maran Group would eventually include businesses that sold farm equipment and heavy construction machinery, in addition to a brick factory, a construction company, and, finally, the Maran Industrial Park – the premier industrial park in Mexicali. Mr Terán is honoured that Maran Industrial Park has been chosen by Capital Finance International to receive the award of Best Industrial Park Construction Partner – Mexico for the year 2015. Q. HOW DID THE IDEA OF MARAN INDUSTRIAL PARK COME ABOUT? A. I owned some property that was on the southeastern edge of Mexicali, at the crossroads of our three major highways, next to a railroad, and only ten minutes from the border crossing. I saw many new manufacturers starting up in buildings that were not the sufficiently adequate for their needs. It seemed logical to me that a world-class manufacturing company would want a world-class manufacturing facility that was built using the highest quality materials, and the latest construction techniques. From that thought came the idea to develop the Maran Industrial Park on my property. I had the land, the brick factory, and the construction company to make this dream come true. Q. HOW DID YOU FIND THE FIRST CLIENT FOR THE MARAN INDUSTRIAL PARK? A. I started my life as a businessman when I was still a young man, knocking on the doors of local farmers selling seed and fertiliser, basically coldcalling. I took that same approach to finding my first client for the Maran Industrial Park. I bought a list of manufacturers in southern California, and wrote letters, stuffed the envelopes, and sent them out. Two weeks later started, I made follow-up calls. My first client was a company that made industrial racking. They started with a 4,600 sq. meter (50,000 sq. foot) building, but quickly expanded to 11,200 square meters (120,000 sq. feet).
President: Mario Terán del Río
Q. THE AVERAGE TENURE OF THE CLIENTS IN MARAN INDUSTRIAL PARK IS UPWARDS OF 15 YEARS. WHY IS THAT? A. The Maran Industrial Park is in the ideal location to help keep costs low for our clients, which, on top of the great service that my team offers them, has led to my clients not just staying in the park, but growing their operations there as well. There are more than 300,000 people living within a two mile radius, and we have fourteen public bus lines that service the stops at the park. This reliable pool of labour keeps turnover rates low which, in turn, saves time and money for our clients. We are 12 minutes from both border crossings with the United States, and only three minutes from the hotel district. We have the best location for industrial development. Q. CAN YOU TALK A LITTLE ABOUT WHY YOU THINK THE MARAN INDUSTRIAL PARK WAS NOMINATED BY YOUR CLIENTS FOR CAPITAL FINANCE INTERNATIONAL’S BEST INDUSTRIAL PARK CONSTRUCTION PARTNER - MEXICO? A. My philosophy has always been to look for long-term business, and to find the way to say yes with a win for both parties. I have been in business all my life, and therefore know the correct questions to ask in order to help define the needs of clients. With a clear definition of their needs we can then fulfil those requirements. As I mentioned before, I build world-class buildings and that attention to quality and detail has brought me very good clients that have stayed and grown their operations within Maran Industrial Park. CFI.co | Capital Finance International
Q. MEXICALI IS THRIVING AND THERE IS A REALLY EXCITING ATMOSPHERE IN THE AIR. IT SEEMS THAT EVERYWHERE THERE IS NEW CONSTRUCTION, THE CITY IS CLEAN AND OPEN FOR BUSINESS. TO WHAT DO YOU ATTRIBUTE THAT FEELING? A. Funny as it sounds, one of the answers is the very hot summers that we experience here. Mexicali is in the middle of a desert. During the summer we experience weeks of temperatures of over 46 degrees Celsius which basically means the people that live here, really want to live here. You don’t have the transient population you see in other Mexican border towns. This leads to the lowest labour turnover rates in Mexico. Our universities give manufacturers a steady flow of well-educated graduates specialised in engineering, business management, and human resources. Mexicali has green energy; all of our electricity is generated in geothermal power plants. Mexicali also has an abundance of water and natural gas. We have two border crossing with the United States and a third one opening soon. Goods come and go by rail, road, and by sea via the ports of Ensenada, San Diego, and Long beach. All of these attributes have led to Mexicali organically developing aerospace, automobile, health sciences, mechatronics and high-tech industry clusters and their tier 2 and 3 vendors, as well as many other stand-alone industries. Q. HOW DO YOU SEE THE FUTURE OF MARAN GROUP? A. That really depends on the requirements of our clients. We are currently in the planning stage of another industrial park on the outskirts of Tijuana. Within that park, we are planning with some current tenants for the expansion of their current facilities. We are also starting to facilitate companies that are looking into manufacturing in Mexico with the start-up of the soft landing company. Q. A TWO PART QUESTION: WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR BEST MEMORIES OF MARAN INDUSTRIAL PARK AND WHAT IS YOUR HOPE FOR THE PARK? A. The day that I signed a lease contract with Procter and Gamble, I remember thinking “this is exactly the type of client I had in mind for the park” – a global company with a great reputation. The idea of a world-class industrial park was again confirmed when I signed a lease with Mitsubishi Consumer Electronics for their large screen television manufacturing facility. As to my hopes for the Maran Industrial Park, that is easy: that our outstanding team of management and employees will maintain the prestige, high quality, and efficient service that our clients have come to expect. i 171