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He dreamed of being a Formula 1 driver. He imagined opening champagne on top of the podium. He traded those imaginary victories for numbers when he decided to become an accountant. Today he is the CEO of Los Grobo, one of the main economic groups in the country dedicated to the production and export of agro-industrial food.

The 57-year-old executive, married, father of three children and recent grandfather, defines himself as a "professional adventurer." "When I count everything I did and where people say ´wow! You have not stopped´. And the truth is that I never stopped and that is what determines the energy to go from one project to another. But above all because of the diversity of things that I was doing, having spent an average of four years in a country or a city and in a certain project, and having been changing. It is part of the engine that allowed me to continue doing everything with a lot of energy," he says.

Throughout more than 35 years of activity, he experienced constant challenges that led him to travel through various geographies. He passed through Madrid, where he worked at Arthur Andersen, after ten years he returned to Argentina to join first Sideco Americana and then Grupo ASSA. Five years later he moved to Córdoba to work at E.ON, a company that forced him to move to the Spanish capital and then to Düsseldorf, Germany. After a decade, his native land called him to join -again in La Docta- Ecogas and, in Buenos Aires, with Grupo Newsan and Petroquímica Cuyo.

His adventurer profile is also associated with the multiplicity of the areas in which he ventured. From one of the five largest auditing companies in the world, he jumped to a public services and infrastructure firm and a consulting and outsourcing firm. He landed in the energy sector, in the manufacture of consumer electronics and household appliances to join a firm that produces advanced polypropylene and plastic raw materials. "In general, when you are not in the agricultural sector, you see it as a sector that has it easier, but until you get into that world, you really realize all the complexity it has in terms of risk issues in production and in what is the determination of profitability", explains this accountant who never practiced this profession.

When setting his goals as CEO, he says that "the main challenge is to continue growing in a sustainable and profitable manner in a market that is very dynamic on the one hand and extremely competitive on the other." To play to win in this market, he proposes innovation and digitization as tools. "You have to provide good and fast service at the best possible cost. You have to try to avoid intermediaries and commission agents and be in places where you can really add value." The notion of digitization seems to debunk the phenomenon of the country man who had to be called clapping his hands in front of the gate. But Flaiban rescues that old process that "ends up being important because it defines the relationship that you generate with a producer." Then the virtual tools are imposed to maintain the bond that many times is born in the trance.

He values ​​teamwork and highlights the condition of "being a humble person who knows how to listen and is attentive to ask the right question." He does not come from agriculture, but he understands this situation as an opportunity to see the industry from a different perspective. Every word of Flaiban is accompanied by a huge dose of enthusiasm and passion.

"What I like most about my activity is teamwork. What I enjoy the most are the proposals or the analyzes that have to be done together to get ideas forward and I enjoy it more when you really see that all the decisions you were making they were given", he assures. And when he looks back he tells the boy who dreamed of Formula 1 that life can take him from one place to another. That the vertigo is so captivating that, even without accelerating fully, he can enjoy being a "professional adventurer". → article published in the Printed Edition No. 345 of the Apertura magazine (Editorial El Cronista)

Automatic translation from spanish.