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The Last Inca's secret of success
In April 2004, after viewing the ruins at Machu Picchu, we were going to have a chance to visit the Nova Company factory, in Lima, Peru.
This is a very large company (by Peruvian standards). The company makes a line of bakery equipment, which is sold throughout South America, and is making an entry into European and American markets.
Our guide for the day was Nancy Fuentes, a classmate of my son, Matt, at the American Institute of Baking back in the late 1980s. Nancy had been sent to the AIB by the owner and founder of Nova Co., one Maximo San Roman Caceres, for the express purpose of setting up a similar school in Peru. Mr. Caceres was very serious about helping Peruvi-ans expand their educational opportunities, by teaching the fundamentals of baking, while at the same time teaching the students to use the Nova machines, and creating a future market for those machines.
After some 17 years the concept seems to be working out admirably to everyone's satisfaction. Students arrive at the school, as representatives of individual bakeries, or as individuals, most of whom are on some sort of government-sponsored scholarship. New bakeries, operated by former students are springing up in cities and villages across the country.
We learned that Mr. Caceres has helped many individuals get started in their own business, including a nun, who has given battered women, who had come to her for help, a chance for employment and a new life. They provide the manpower for a very modern bake-ry/coffee shop in Cuzco.
Nancy was noticeably nervous as we entered the Nova plant. She was not very familiar with the factory. After all, the school was her domain, and she had just found that the factory manager had been called out of the plant. Mr. Caceres would conduct the tour himself. It turned out that meeting Mr. Caceres and taking the tour of his plant was one of the highlights of our trip to Peru.
Mr. Caceres is an Inca by birth, and obviously has inherited some of the engineering skills of his forefathers. He is a self-made man, a hard driver, and a perfectionist. At first he just sold bakery equipment, but he found that Peruvian equipment was substandard, so he began to manufacture a line of his own.
When the raw materials he received were not up to his standards he started his own foundry and machine shop, paint shop, etc. We found him to be a man passionate about his business, about Peru, and about life. He showed us through every department of his plant, and went into great detail about every phase of manufacture (even to taking off covers of machines so that we could see how the inner parts worked). He spoke very fast and with authority -- and spoke only in Spanish. We were very lucky that his daughter and her husband happened to be visiting, from Spain, and she acted as his very able translator. Mr. Caceres obviously was used to speaking through an interpreter. While she translated his words to us, he gathered his thoughts for his next phrase. It worked out very nicely.
Our tour ended in Mr. Caceres' very modern, second story office, in the exact center of the factory. From his desk he could see and oversee every phase of the plant's operation. He really was a hands-on type of owner. His desk was strewn with rough engineering drawings. Apparently, he is always working to improve his machines.
While we partook of a refreshing drink of Inca Cola, which must be like the Peruvian national drink, Mr. Caceres got a chance to explain the pictures of the dignitaries on the wall of his office, and to tell us a bit about his philosophy of life. Maximo Caceres was not just an engineer, with a successful manufacturing company. For many years he had also been a successful politician, serving as the President of the Congress (a position akin to the Majority Leader in the U.S. Senate), which automatically made him the Vice President of Peru.
We learned that in the last years, Peruvian administrations have had trouble with corrupted officials and have not always been able to serve out their allotted terms. This was the case in 1990, when President Alan Garcia left office under duress. So for a period of three months, until Mr. Fujimori, the incoming leader, took office, Maximo San Roman Caceres served as President of Peru.
All other Presidents of Peru in recent years have been foreign born, or men of European descent. There-fore, Mr. Caceres feels justified to refer to himself as "The Last Inca."
It seemed strange to realize that this man, in his working clothes, speaking so informally to us, was a former President of Peru.
Mr. Caceres seemed to feel compelled to share some of his life philosophy with us. He launched into the reason why some countries were poor and some were rich.
1. It is not a country's antiquity. Countries like Peru, India, and Egypt have thousands of years of rich history, and they are poor, while Australia, New Zealand, and the US were ignored until relatively recent times and today are graceful and rich.
2. It is not because of a country's natural resources. Japan is small, and is 80 percent mountainous (like Peru), has few natural resources, yet is the second world economic power.
3. Switzerland is a small country, without oceans, yet brings in products from the world over. Without raising cocoa the Swiss produce the best chocolate in the world. It is a country that gives an image of security and has become the "safe of the world."
4. It is not a difference of intelligence. Students from poor countries have produced excellent results as professionals and executives in their adopted rich countries.
What then, is the difference between poor countries and rich ones? With that Mr. Caceres then proceeded to answer his own question.
People in rich countries have put into practice the ancient principles that an Andean Culture developed at an early time (the Inca 10 Commandments), in the world of their time, but principles which Peru seems to have lost in the intervening years. The principles can be combined, and summed up in one word -- Attitude.
According to Mr. Caceres, Peru and the other poor countries are "Poor Because Of Our Attitude."
"We lack character and a minimum of self-esteem to put into practice the basic premises that make possible the functioning of a normal (successful) society. People in rich countries succeed because they Believe they can succeed!
"The basic Inca values should encourage us to move forward, and believe that our own lives can be authentic, fraternal, and successful in our solidarity.
"If we hope the government solves our problems, we will wait a lifetime.
"For the love of our family, our children and our country, we must pass on the basic principles of success to all our people. The more zeal we put into our acts, the easier we can change our attitude, and the surer we can be that Peru will enter the path of progress and well-being." With a few more like Mr. Caceres, I think they'll succeed.
Having finished his little speech, Mr. Caceres shook hands all round, excusing himself, saying that he must leave, to ready himself for a business trip to Washington D.C. later that same day.
We were leaving the Nova plant a few minutes later when we caught our last look at Mr. Caceres. He waved to us jauntily, from a green Jaguar automobile, as he passed us in a blur, heading into the impossible Lima traffic -- "The Last Inca, A Man in a Hurry."
Source: Engineer Max-imum San Roman Caceres.