José Antonio Salinas
And his vision about the future of the veterinary pharmaceutical industry in Ecuador
José Antonio, like many entrepreneurial professionals in Ecuador, is full of anecdotes linked to Ecuador’s history. He wanted to become a doctor, but instead studied to be a petrochemical engineer and ended up working for multinational pharmaceutical companies. His experience in the field earned him the title of ad honorem pharmaceutical engineer, and after being employed several years, he decided to set up his own company called Naturalquimic Ltd. & Co. almost 23 years ago. On this occasion, he addresses the current situation of the pharmaceutical veterinary market.
1. What type of veterinary pharmaceutical company (VPC) is Naturalquimic?
Naturalquimic is a company that specializes in the manufacture and commercialization of veterinary pharmaceutical products and in the representation and commercialization of medicines for human consumption and nutritional products.
2. Why did you decide to provide services to third parties instead of developing your own products?
We have our own line of pharmacological veterinary products but we’ve been providing services to third parties due to the size and characteristics of Ecuadorian’s market.
3. How has the demand for your services been in recent years?
Quite variable, given the changing conditions of Ecuador’s market. Among the factors that directly affect us are the drop-in oil prices, lack of the purchasing power, and their consequent variability in the consumption habits of meat, eggs and milk.
4. What do you think the VPC needs in order to become competitive in the Latin American and international markets?
Investment in new technology processing, a productivity increase, better technical and professional training, and continuous improvement of the quality of the products that are offered. In addition to this, the development of a highly intelligent and competitive market must be added, which will allow Ecuador to be positioned as a producer of veterinary drugs with high benefits of quality and performance for the consumer.
5. Companies nowadays are funded on a select group of people: a team. Do you believe that the labor force is sufficiently trained to make the Ecuadorian industry competitive?
In my opinion, it is partially qualified because the tools we manage do not allow us to raise our goals to internationally accepted quality standards, which together with increased productivity would make our products very competitive among international markets.
6. What do you think is the challenge of Ecuador’s VPC today?
To obtain competitive financing to be able to innovate in manufacturing processes, compliance of regulatory rules, and effective marketing. This would allow us to compete in better conditions in local and foreign markets.
At the end of the interview, he comments that due to the constant change in the current situation in the country, these answers could change tomorrow. For now we thank him very much for his time and for his efforts to improve people’s quality of life.