Leading Women: Maria Benjumea, Founder of South Summit

How passion enlightens a professional life (*)

Can you visualize a Babel of business people? Imagine a vast meeting of more than 6,000 entrepreneurs from all over the world, 1,100 investors, venture capitalists and business angels, all gathered in huge magical space, interacting frenetically, bubbling over, explaining their ideas, interviewing each other in parallel, formal and informal meetings, a marathon of activities lasting around 72 hours. 

This isn’t Silicon Valley, but the South Summit, a global platform that is now a global reference point for entrepreneurship, held in Madrid every year since 2012 and the brainchild of María Benjumea, a Spanish businesswoman whose passion and enthusiasm runs like electricity through meeting.  Obviously, given sanitary protocols following the pandemic, this year the event is taking place on a digital format.

It’s not easy to create the circumstances to generate such a unique entrepreneurial atmosphere, and just as hard to attract genuine creators and investors. Entrepreneurs tend to avoid formal events along the lines of Davos, instead preferring more casual, informal occasions, where interaction is direct and flows spontaneously. 

As with other platform-based initiatives, the secret of South Summit’s success largely lies in the capacity of somebody like Benjumea, her teams and her partners, to mobilize a network of diverse, relevant and international stakeholders, and then to leverage social networks, word of mouth, the participants themselves, the success of the connections made during the gathering, the recognition and support of the startups, the satisfaction and enjoyment of participants, and of course social events. Business people like to enjoy themselves too. 

The ability to network is often singled out as what sets successful entrepreneurs and directors apart from the herd. Networking, however, is not a skill that can be developed overnight or acquired like a data base. It is created over time, and requires patience, care and dedication. What’s more, it’s not just about personal interest. Building a network requires reciprocity, fairness and the ability to inspire confidence. 

Those who know Benjumea say she’s a born networker, known by all the relevant stakeholders in the area of business creation in Spain, and increasingly in Latin America, given that South Summit has already organized events in Bogota and Mexico City, and intends to expand its activities in the region. Benjumea explains that one of the reasons for her success is having cultivated a presence in the right networks, and she recommends other women to grasp the importance to relationships, of being in the right places and participating, of dedicating the time needed to get to know other relevant business players: 

“If your colleagues are going for a beer after work, then you go too; your partner can stay at home and look after the children just as well as you can.” 

Platforms are increasingly the way we do digital and global business, and while most function online, what makes South Summit different is its focus on bringing people together, on face-to-face meetings to identify business opportunities, to find investors, partners, and to close deals. I sometimes use the term animal feedback to describe how we humans seem to need personal contact to carry out important business deals. For example, while today’s millennials tend to meet each other through social networks, after this initial, virtual contact, a personal meeting is needed to cement what until then was merely an intellectual relationship: to close important business or recruit senior directors, it still seems necessary for some kind of physical contact. 

Benjumea naturally forms an instantaneous bond with the people she meets. She is expressive and warm, cheerful and outgoing, expansive and approachable. She is totally lacking in the arrogance or distance that often characterizes other people of her experience or level. When discussing her career, her honesty and modesty typically prompts empathy and complicity. 

At university, she studied Geography and History, a decision that highlights the importance of the Humanities for business people and that generalist studies provide a solid foundation for developing multiple careers, as opposed to the obsession with specialization. When Benjumea was at university in Spain, after completing a course in the Humanities, most graduates would put themselves forward for a post in the civil service: this was considered the natural option and would provide secure, lifelong employment. 

Benjumea failed her first round of entrance exams, as frequently happens, but in her case, it provided her with an opportunity to go into business and pursue something she felt a passion for: “Looking back, I know now that I could never have worked for somebody else.” 

She describes her professional development as based on “learning by doing”, gaining confidence and earning trust along the way. “To begin with,” she explains, “I felt unsure, but over time I learned the ropes and proved to myself that I could get things done with hard work, dedication and enthusiasm.” She remembers the nerves she felt when she was first interviewed on the radio. The journalist introduced her as Mario instead of María, which helped break the ice. Next came her first television interview, although she is now used to the presence of dozens of cameras at South Summit. But she admits still to a certain thrill at such public events, which she says helps release the adrenalin needed to bring out the best and to keep her on her toes. 

At the same time, she seeks to demythologize the challenges she has faced, launching a message of confidence and optimism to all female entrepreneurs: “We’re permanently demythologizing things. With hard work and passion it’s possible to achieve anything, even if it takes time and effort. We have to overcome stereotypes and clichés, which are myths that disappear like mirages if you commit to overcoming them.”  

Benjumea initially tried her hand at selling and restoring antiques. Later, toward the end of the 1980s, she set up the highly successful Círculo de Progreso, a company that published guides and provided information about university courses, advising candidates about the best study programs for their interests; this was in the pre-internet age, and when there was little information available. The company morphed into Infoempleo, the first major platform to connect university graduates with employers in Spain, creating a new model and changing the recruitment market. This led to Spain Startup, a platform connecting stakeholders and start-up founders, and then on to South Summit; a natural evolution, but one that has changed her life, and the life of hundreds of entrepreneurs. 

The common denominator in these business initiatives is Benjumea’s passion and enthusiasm for what she does. She remembers an inspirational anecdote during a presentation by a board member of Johnson & Johnson, who talked in very positive terms about her work, prompting one member of the audience to comment: “Sure, but you’ve been lucky: everything you’ve done has excited you,” to which the woman replied: “I would say that I’ve made it exciting.” 

Benjumea says she has always felt passionate about her business initiatives and the impact they have had on people and society, in areas such as professional development, employment or creating companies. Reflecting her enthusiasm for new ideas, she says she enjoys designing strategies and business plans than the day-to-day administrative work, although she is more than capable of getting down into the weeds of offering a particular service to make sure the client is happy. 

Benjumea’s family has proved to be an entrepreneurial ecosystem: her husband, Diego del Alcázar Silvela, is the founder of IE University, while their children, Isabela and Diego, have inherited the same groundbreaking spirit. “What sets my mother apart is her passion and love for what she does and with whom she does it,” says her son, adding:  “she is not an economist by training, and if you ask her she probably is not at all friendly to numbers or structured business plans, but she compensates this by an amazing drive and fervor at what she does, along with her intuition and experience. My mother has guts, courage, bravery. Obstacles in her path do not stop her.”

Bermujea’s busy calendar means that the lines between the professional and the personal are often blurred. The family’s entrepreneurial ecosystem means that conversations in the home are a mix of the personal, current affairs and business, which is an ongoing enterprise. 

When I ask her about her views on inclusion policies, she smiles and says: “I always warn people that I’m politically incorrect.” In reality, her views are hardly controversial, and she simply believes in the right to express her opinion based on her experiences. “People often say that men choose other men for senior positions, but my experience is different. If you’re available, if they know you, then they’ll likely go with you. 

In my case, I was elected Vice-president of the Business Circle based on the years I had spent on as part of any number of groups and associations, of my relationship with a huge number of people. First on SECOT [an organization that works with small businesses in Spain], and then the International Women’s Forum, taking part in a range of conferences and committees. A friend encouraged me: ‘María, you have to be there, make an effort and go for it’ and ten years later I ended up on the board of directors of the representative body for business people in Spain.” 

At present, as well as running her own company, she is a non-executive director of another business and sit on the boards of several organizations as an advisor. 

Benjumea was also the driving force behind Lidera, a private-public initiative that has made a big impact in Spain by providing financial support for women attending MBA programs, as well as the right mentoring and coaching to boost their employability and promotion in companies. She is particularly proud when she meets women who were part of Lidera a decade ago, and discovers the huge impact it played in transforming their careers. Understanding that the power to change things lays in oneself can make a difference, she says.

As regards the salary gap that the data show exist in many companies, Benjumea’s advice to women is typically robust: 

“If you really believe your salary is lower than that of men in the same position as you, then talk to the head of human resources and make your case. If you’re right, you’ll soon see your pay raised. Never hesitate to demand what you see as fair conditions from your employer: they will always come round if you’re in the right.” 

Even Benjumea admits that sometimes even she can run low on enthusiasm and passion: at times like this, her advice is: “Get away, do something else, go somewhere else. A change of activity and a breath of fresh air can sometimes be the best way to see things differently. Like Scarlett O’Hara said, tomorrow is another day; the sun will rise, time puts things in perspective.” 

Looking back over her career, Benjumea accepts she may no longer be the torrent she once was, but while her career now seems more like a river at its widest, the current flows as fast as ever. She has grown to know herself better, having proved that anything is possible if one applies the right means and sufficient effort, as well as relying on the right people. 

“If you want to get ahead quickly, then perhaps it’s worth doing things alone, but if you really want to achieve your goals and attain success, then you must find the right team to work with you.” 

Benjumea says she is still surprised at how much she has achieved, then tempers that by adding that there is still much to be done. 

Notes (you read the Spanish version of this article: please click here)

This article is extracted from Chapter 5 of my lates book "In An Ideal Business: How the Ideas of 10 Female Philosophers Bring Value Into The Workplace" (Palgrave Macmillan, London 2020).

Ther quotes in this section are extracted from an interview between Maria Benjumea and the author, dated August 29, 2019