Taking advantage of a flaw that existed in the Colombian market some years ago, this Argentine and his Colombian partners decided to start a company under the congress model, which today has a presence throughout the country.
Richard Santa S.
Thanks to two characteristics that he says were growing with him, creativity and entrepreneurship, Gaston Leonel Ciminieri became an entrepreneur in the audiovisual industry, an activity in which he has been working since 1994.
Our Professional of the Month invited for this edition was born in the capital of, Argentina, where he studied completely up to technical and artistic tertiary levels, managing to be a sound operator with concepts of artistic production. He is a National Master of Music, percussion and cello player. He declares himself a sensitive lover of music, history and art, as well as a full connoisseur of symphonic rock and confessed Elvis and Lennon maniac.
He emphasizes that his professional life has allowed him to have a particular vision of the world. "As a sound operator and assistant to great Argentine musicians, I have spent the first years of my profession working on tours, getting to know the world in artistic, fun and fast visits of a short time, which allowed me to see not only landscapes but also cultures, customs, flavors, methods, generalities and geniuses of different countries."
New horizons
Although since 1994 Gaston Ciminieri has had his own company, it was only until 2007 that he arrived in Bogotá, Colombia, to fulfill some technical tasks that had been entrusted to him. On that trip he also had the opportunity to get to know Cartagena, not knowing that this city would later become one of the main headquarters of his new company.
Upon their return to Buenos Aires, two Colombians had joined the company established in their country, Equatech S.A. With them he materialized his new business idea. "That year we began to write the CongressColombia plan and traveled to Medellín from where we were entrusted with the task of advancing the World Economic Forum 2010, which would be held in Cartagena months later."
The Colombians became a fundamental part of their new project, so much so that today Uber Antonio Vélez Palacio is the current manager of CongressColombia in the city of Medellín and Alex Mauricio Escobar Guerra, current partner and technical manager of the company, is in charge of the headquarters in Cartagena, one of the main congress destinations in Colombia.
Gastón Ciminieri recalls that together they confirmed that the "congress" model did not exist in Colombia at that time and that there was no audiovisual technology according to international qualities. "We decided then to stay in Cartagena from that moment building a company, which although it occupied a unique space in the field, has also had to create its own market."
He assures that in the first years of the new company the main difficulty was the access to the cutting-edge technology they wanted to have to attend the big events to which they were aiming.
"They were years where we did not get equipment or supplies suitable for the project we had and we had to import the technology to show our idea to those who would be our first customers. Lovers of the challenge, we were conquering producers and organizers who entrusted us with the first great works in the country," he said.
Among the first meetings they had in charge in Colombia, are the Tuxtla Summit, EGMONT and UIAF Meeting, COP 10 Basel Summit and the Cartagena Film Festival.
"These month-to-month events made us feel more necessary in the local audiovisual macro market. Then the strategy was clear and focused on constantly training all the staff at InfoComm so that the knowledge allows us more and better quality of service and invest in the brands and models that the institutions that since then and until now we admire (CRN, ICCA and AIIC). We also presented ourselves to actively integrate the Conventions Bureau of Bogotá, Medellín and Cartagena," he said.
Always up-to-date
Due to the passion he has always felt for his profession and his work, this Argentine based in Colombia began to tour fairs and exhibitions in order to always be aware of new technologies, and that was how he attended one of the first InfoComm in Anaheim, in Los Angeles
Of this fair, Gastón Ciminieri has great memories with great joy. Not only because on the last day of the expo he went to see the live show of The Police at the Honda Center, but also because of an interview they did as an end user, of which he does not forget one of the questions, are you an official user of JBL Vertec Line Array, what is your goal?
His answer does not forget it either: "My dream is to see from the low stalls of the monumental stadium an Argentine championship final between River and All Boys shouting the goals of both teams hugging my two sons." This is because in those years the football club of the neighborhood in which he lived his first 25 years and which he had seen play with his forehead on the fence in third-line sports matches, was about to ascend to the first division of national football.
On this subject he points out that "years later the three of us lived that dream and, without words... At that moment I knew I had a vision, I don't know if it was a business vision, but without a doubt it was a clear vision of happiness lol."
Gaining market
In these five years that CongressColombia has been in the market, Gastón Ciminieri assures that success is the product of excellence, optimizing the best equipment in the hands of certified technicians, with the support of manufacturers such as Bosch and Audipack.
"That formula made us the company that currently operates throughout the country and with a high level of reliability. It allowed us to do the technique of such important events as the Summit of the Americas 2012, the Unasur of Cartagena and Bogotá and to retain loyalty with the national and international zonal market, "he added.
He said he is proud to be the only ICCA Member service company in Colombia and "personally very happy to have been living in Cartagena for years enjoying the energy that this city gives me every morning when I go from my house in the Historic Center to the office on Calle del Arsenal in front of the Bay and the Cesar Turbay Ayala Convention Center."
Finally, he highlighted the support of the technicians, engineers, assistants, commercial, administrative, creative and managers who support the daily work of his company, with the firm commitment to constant improvement. "We all share the dream that the day our country announces to the world the definitive national peace, it will do so through our service and that our clients feel the happiness of having lived the event as they imagined it," he concluded.
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