Alejandro Betancourt, President of Hawkers

His professional career has always been linked to various entrepreneurship initiatives. Alejandro Betancourt has obtained two degrees in Economics and Business Management from Suffolk University in Massachusetts (Boston, USA) and an Executive MBA from Oxford University. He has developed his career largely in his native country: initially as operations manager for a series of international firms and subsequently at his own companies.

At the start of his career, he undertook the role of Commercial Manager for Latin America at the UK branch of the ICC-OEOC (http://www.iccoeoc.com/index1.asp), a North American firm specializing in the energy sector and in the trade of oil and its derivatives, with offices in USA, Europe, the Middle-East, South America and Africa.

Betancourt has subsequently been part of the executive teams of Guruceaga Group, a firm specializing in the international trade of commodities, where he took the role of new businesses manager; and BGB Energy, the Venezuelan branch of the international corporation Kawasaki Heavy Industries (http://www.khi.co.jp/english/). As BGB Energy’s first executive, he was actively involved in Venezuela’s Interconexión Centro Occidente project (ICO), which took place in 2006.

This project’s aim was to connect the systems of natural gas transmission in the Eastern and Central regions of Venezuela with the systems of transmission in the West, in order to meet the gas demands of the area and encourage the export of gas to countries such as Columbia, Central and South America.

After the success of BGB Energy within the ICO Project and with almost a decade of experience in the field, Alejandro Betancourt decided to found his own company in 2007, a 100% Venezuelan-funded private firm specializing in the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of thermoelectric power plants. The firm employed 200 workers directly and 2,000 indirectly.

The company’s focus on innovation and improvement of the processes of electric energy production in Venezuela led it to position itself, in a short period of time, in an advantageous position to undertake large-scale projects both inside and outside Venezuela. In fact, since 2010, the company built eleven simple-cycle thermoelectric power plants, adding 1,386 MW to the country’s electric power grid at a lower price than most competitors during that period, as well as creating over 12,000 jobs and improving the lives of around 700,000 families, leading it to become one of the most important private firms in the energy sector in Venezuela.

Alejandro Betancourt leads the O’Hara administration, an international investment group that in May 2015 became the largest shareholder of the petroleum company Pacific Rubiales Energy by controlling more than 20 percent of its shares.

By the end of August Pacific Rubiales changed its name to Pacific Exploration & Production Corp., in line with his vision of “a broader focus in Latin America.”. Shortly after, Alejandro Betancourt was appointed as new member of the board of directors of the company.

Betancourt is a member of the board of directors of several companies, including a bank in Africa and a European internet company, among others.

Alejandro Betancourt is currently the chairman of the board and the main shareholder of Hawkers/Saldum Ventures, a leading internet sales growth company that sets trends in the fashion sunglasses sector. Hawkers is the third-largest sunglasses company worldwide, operating in more than 20 countries. Betancourt has led a strategy of professionalization and expansion into physical retail channels. Following an ambitious policy of openings in the most prominent locations, the brand has launched more than 60 stores internationally in record time. As chairman, Betancourt oversees high-level strategic decisions, including fundraising, institutional relations, and managing the company’s senior executives, including the CEO, CFO, and COO.

In 2024, Alejandro Betancourt was appointed Knight of the Order del Camino de Santiago.