Autobiography - The Galindo Group

Ram Galindo THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN Page 102
to do the work free on the condition that if, after they received it and decided that it was
useful, they would put the word out among other possible clients that I had done a good
job and saved them money. This we did for six months. Then we began getting our first
remunerated projects. That is how Joe and I created the initial values that allowed us to
grow Consultores Galindo Ltda., Ingenieria y Administacion, into what eventually
became the powerhouse of Bolivian engineering companies. I consider this period my
seminal work of significant value creation.
As I recounted in Hot Front in a Cold War (Chapter 2), the political climate in Bolivia at
this time had become so destructive and corruption was so obtrusive that the people’s
discontent was no longer bearable. On November 4, 1964, General Rene Barrientos
staged a successful coup and a new order of things, more propitious to private
initiatives, was established. As it was for most Bolivians, It was my lucky break. Buoyed
by this tide, our little company began to grow.
I never personally met Gen. Barrientos but one of his most able and trusted
collaborators was my first cousin Marcel Galindo, who over the “Barrientos” years was
cabinet secretary of several government departments. Marcel was also a visionary
known to think outside the box and courageous enough to try modern approaches to old
problems. Having many opportunities to do so, he never asked for any unbecoming
contributions for his boss, himself or anybody else, nor did I ever make any. It was a
pleasure to work purely on the basis of an arms-length, open-to-scrutiny relationship.
He trusted me and, on the face of strong competition, provided the first significant
opportunities for my little company to undertake larger responsibilities.
With this break we progressed quickly and by 1967 we had over 120 engineers and
technicians working in CGL, as Consultores Galindo came to be known. In late 1964,
due to a bad case of hepatitis, Joe returned to California but with the arrival of my
brother Chris in February 1966 our organization acquired more managerial depth and
was able to perform successfully all its contractual responsibilities. By this time the
consulting engineering field had become quite competitive but by presenting good
proposals and delivering the results as promised, Chris and I were able to grow the
company at a rate fast enough to keep CGL among the top performers.
Just as we were beginning our first large job, we suffered a most unfortunate accident
when a truck carrying one of our survey crews fell down a 1,000 foot deep precipice
killing all five employees. Overcoming this disaster, we hired some experienced
engineers and also began training recent graduates who later became mainstays of the
company. Kirsten provided very capable bookkeeping services and handled all the bank
accounts without a hitch. All along the value of the stock appreciated steadily and we
were able to start distributing dividends in 1968. CGL was my first significant valuecreating
initiative and provided my family with, for Bolivian standards of the time, a very
good living with great savings capacity.
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