Last updated on Dezember 15, 2021
Five days in Mexico. Ximena was excited long before, and so was I. Meeting at the airport was, therefore, very emotional. After all, without her, I wouldn’t have had the idea to go and see all these people from the WWJ.
Ximena and her parents made me see and enjoy as much as was humanly possible in these few days: We went to see Pachuca, where they live, the Pyramids of Teotihuacan, the pretty village Real del Monte, Mexico City for two days, and the beautiful countryside. We started early in the day and got home late. Ximena, her courageous mum and I – we made the perfect road movie.
I was invited to try Mexican food: starting with roasted crickets, ants’ eggs and a soup made of a fungus which lives on corn cobs, to cactus and of course tortillas and everything else made from corn flour, in abundance. I love street food!
I saw all these impressive sites: witnesses of past indigenous cultures, traditional Mexica dance when I felt the rhythm of the drums even an hour later, and colonial relicts of the Spanish conquerers.
„We’ve been in crisis most of the time in Mexico“, Ximena said on one occasion. And maybe this is the reason that, in spite of poverty and violence, political problems and Covid-induced instability, Mexican people are so warm, friendly and positive. They just concentrate on what is possible. Now, in the moment. I have experienced Mexico as a hustle and bustle of people who do something: who practice great hospitality, build their lives, sell things on the streets, improvise and organize. Mexicans, is my impression, are highly resilient.
Still, they don’t see themselves at eye height with others, especially when it comes to the US or Europe. And Ximena is like that. She is responsible for business relations and innovation at Grupo GOCA, a construction firm and flourishing family business. They have this beautiful motto: „Personas que construyen“ (people who build) – … a better world, is what they mean.
Not only do they create the preconditions for housing and businesses, in return for the land they give something: for example education for children from underserved communities or organic honey from the family’s farm.
Ximena, experienced in teaching and design thinking, helps to make it all sustainable and facilitate alignment and coherence in Grupo GOCA. With her support, GOCA has all the options to compete with what Tim Leberecht describes as a beautiful business. Ximena has the instinct and the qualification to see what is needed. She doesn’t see it yet, but in a couple of years, she will probably be one of the most important business evangelist for Mexico.