Dream Big

Grupo Menarini recently opened a direct office in Colombia after being active through distributors. Why Colombia and why now?

There are several factors that a company such as ours has to take into consideration when approaching a new country: the first is the stability of the country, the second is our perspective and what potential the country might have in the future, and the third is the attention of society and government to the healthcare of the population. We found that Colombia is attentive to these three factors. These are fundamental elements that made us come here and have our operations here. Another important fact is that Colombia is extremely stable and we see large growth in the economy; there are no risks compared to other countries, especially in Latin America. Law 100 and other healthcare statements from the government show how the government has always paid close attention to the healthcare of its society. Hence, for these reasons, Colombia signifies considerable opportunities for Menarini

What impact will your new direct presence here have on Menarini’s local operations and the end user?

One of the Menarini company’s largest commitments, especially in the healthcare sector, is to educate our sales persons so they can teach doctors and institutions how to use the products and medicines. Of course, just having a distributor did not allow us to have a direct impact on the medical culture—the scientific promotion of healthcare in general—and not just on individual products. We wanted to develop a medical culture by directly teaching doctors the best way to use our products and to directly improve the lives of patients. We wanted to prepare doctors to solve their patients’ problems with our products; in order to do this, we must perfectly describe the opportunities that are on offer to solve their problems

What are your short-term goals for this new office?

Our short-term goal is to commercialize six products here, mainly in three areas: cardiovascular, gastroenterology, and the treatment of pain. In 2017, we plan to launch three new products, mainly in cardiovascular and pain treatment. Another goal is to expand our pipeline not only in these three areas, but in others as well. We take pride not only in expanding our presence here in Colombia but in creating jobs for Colombian families. We want to make them participants in our dream of bringing the Menarini family everywhere into the country. We have no limits in a country like this and will grow in the future. The Menarini group came from humble roots in Italy and now has a presence in more than 110 countries as a result of the will of the Aleotti brothers, who are always ready and prepared to seize an opportunity to introduce the pharmaceutical products of our company in the countries where we are not yet present. Of course, 2017 was the year for Colombia and Peru; however, in the next couple of years we want to grow and expand in parts of Latin America that we have yet to enter. My personal dream is to have a map in my office with a Menarini flag on each and every single country in the world. The story behind the Menarini name begins in a small pharmacy called Farmacia Internazionale in Naples. It sold products for immigrants making their way to the US and Latin America before they boarded a long boat journey. Fearful of being stopped and quarantined at the gates of North or South America, they stocked up on lots of products at the pharmacy before they left. Their dream was to be recognized as immigrants and welcomed into these countries. Now Menarini is carrying on this dream of reaching Latin America and being a major local player in the country. We like to dream big, and this is where dreaming big has brought us.