The Puerto Rican investor Orlando Bravo is convinced that the artificial intelligence (AI) will not displace employees, at least in a short time, since it would mean a lot of risk to the corporate governance model that has contributed to the positioning of all types of companies and their business models.
In a round table with Puerto Rican journalists, the co-founder of Thoma Bravo assured that the current workforce and emerging technologies will be able to coexist for the next five and up to 10 years, given that technological adoption is “evolutionary”.
“In the short term there will be no work trips. No way, no how. This world is very evolutionary”said Bravo, recalling that even the most alarmist forecasts about mass layoffs, such as those he heard at international conferences, have not materialized.
Far from it robots replace people, as fiction has made us believe, hybrid models of collaboration between humans and automated agents have been proliferating, he assured.
“We don’t see a world that there are no people in management (or that) there are no workers (and) the robot does everything, that is, no, because we have a system of companies that are organized in a way to provide mentoring, to lead people forward, to make decisions, to carry out these workflows and changing all that is too much risk“said the businessman.
Bravo indicated that many investors are looking for companies that are integrating AI into their business structure, in order to generate savings and gain efficiency.
However, even in the corporate world, the incorporation of AI “is moving very slowly” and many companies use it more as a pretext than as a path to real transformation, according to the Mayagüez billionaire.
“I have not yet seen any company that has reorganized to run its business in a different way. Yes, there are many examples of companies lowering their costs, doing things with technology that were inspired by AI, but they could have done them five years earlier,” Bravo highlighted from the headquarters of the Bravo Family Foundation, in Miramar.
Bet on entrepreneurial talent
During the conversation, Bravo also spoke about the approach of his foundation, which in recent years has supported dozens of startups local through incubator and scholarship programs.
He explained that in many cases they bet more on him entrepreneur that for the companyrecognizing that ideas evolve, but leadership and the ability to execute are what truly transform businesses.
“Sometimes, we are betting more on the entrepreneur than on the company, because we believe that person is going to do super interesting things,” he said, emphasizing that mentoring and training in financial management are pillars of their programs.
In the next three years, the foundation would have helped more than 250 small businesses, providing them with the capital and knowledge necessary for their growth.
Bravo spoke with several journalists from Puerto Rico upon leaving an international symposium coordinated by the New American Alliance, an organization that brings together prominent executives and investment managers from the Latino business community in USA.
The organization recognized Bravo for his professional career and for the creation of his foundation in Puerto Rico, an assignment that the investment manager never thought would have the impact that is already credited to him.
Without having completed a decade, the Bravo Foundation has developed three training and grant programs aimed at promoting entrepreneurship in Puerto Rico.
Through initiatives such as the Rising Entrepreneurs Program (REP), the Foundation has contributed to the training of dozens of companies, including many with the potential to scale in foreign markets. And through other programs, entrepreneurship and knowledge of business financial management are promoted among high school students.
Through the Empowering Young Entrepreneurs program, Fundación Bravo has trained hundreds of students in 50 municipalities of Puerto Rico, including students from the municipal islands of Vieques and Culebra, reported Blanca Santos, executive director of the organization.
In just over five years, Santos added, Fundación Bravo has assembled a team of 15 professionals and has a network of collaborators of about 150 people, who are in charge of implementing the organization’s initiatives through professional services.
“I didn’t expect to have this team and this foundation because we always went step by step, just like the business,” said Bravo, who acknowledged that it has been pleasant to see the acceptance that his philanthropic project has had in the land where it was born.
The investment manager explained that the Foundation has evolved as the private investment firm that he co-founded with his partner Carl Thoma 17 years ago, in which it manages $181,000 million, and that is now a benchmark in the world of private investment in technology.
In his words, the foundation that bears his last name has been a day-to-day exercise of solving challenges, achieving performance and growing until achieving defined governance and infrastructure.
“We don’t have something for everyone because we have to be super focused,” Bravo said, pointing out that it is now common to receive approaches from people interested in contributing, but also from people looking for various supports.
“We serve young entrepreneurs. We serve them,” said Bravo, who stated that his goal is to break down the barriers that entrepreneurs in Puerto Rico face, from lack of capital to access to markets abroad.
Support other organizations
However, aware that there is much to do, Fundación Bravo is preparing to launch a new initiative, but aimed specifically at Third Sector organizations.
In summary, Santos revealed that they are working on a financing program so that non-profit organizations that address specific needs in certain communities can do their work.
The Bravo Foundation’s new initiative takes shape just as hundreds of nonprofit organizations are experiencing a streak of cuts as a result of budget adjustments being pushed from the White House. donald trump.
Local estimates indicate that the loss of funds could total around $1,000 million.
Santos maintained that, at present, they are considering lending capital to an organization that is providing energy support to communities in at least five municipalities on the island and that they are evaluating some proposals.
Santos and Bravo did not specify how much capital they will allocate to the financing program for the Puerto Rican Third Sector, but they hinted that they are working urgently.
The objective is that, by lending funds, Fundación Bravo can support other initiatives and communities in Puerto Rico, but through organizations with a proven track record of community service and dedicated to particular purposes such as energy resilience.