COMASA: Creating an industry

One afternoon in September 2007, after a long day of work, Miguel Zavala Navarro, General Manager and Founding Partner of Comercializadora de Mani S.A. (COMASA), was talking to Joaquin Zavala, the company's Vice-General Manager. “Don Miguel,” as his colleagues called him respectfully, was remembering the experiences they had over the past 25 years, when they successfully created and developed a new industry in Nicaragua. Their company had contributed to the economic growth of the western region of the country, which had been affected by an economic slump and the country's political situation in the 1980s. Don Miguel was worried about new competitive conditions that the industry was facing locally and in international markets. He had just asked Mr. Zavala to review their strategic plan for the next few years.