O ever youthful, O ever weeping – An Interview with Mauro Guerrero, President of Group Nucleo, Argentina

Editor’s Note

“The shining point of Group Nucleo (hereafter referred to as ‘Nucleo’) is that we always strive to maintain the spirit of youth and curiosity at the begining.”

O ever youthful, O ever weeping. We are on the road.

Just like the battles of the protagonist in “Dragon Ball”, Sun Wukong constantly acquires new skills and treasures by overcoming difficulties at each stage. He carries his belongings to go to the next stage, wondering how far he can go.

The ultimate victory can be counted as the greatest triumph.

If you know more about Nucleo, you will find that both the company and its president, Mauro Guerrero (hereafter referred to as ‘Mauro’), are always on the road, always moving forward, which is the key to going further.

The president of Nucleo in Argentina Mauro is interviewed today to share how Nucleo became a leader in Argentina and Latin America, how tech companies are adapting and responding under new technologies like AIGC, as well as his views and plans on multi-national cooperation between China and Argentina.

Standing at the meeting-place of time after26 years, Mauro looks back at Nucleo’s growth journey, looks forward to the future, and shares the story of the company’s growth from nothing to greatness, speaking from experience every step of the way.

CE MAGAZINE:What are the main areas and geographic regions that Nucleo Group is currently involved in? Can you describe the different stages of the company’s growth and development? What are the future development strategies and plans for Nucleo Group in the next few years?

Mauro Guerrero:Grupo Nucleo is an argentinian company, with its main focus in Argentina. Additionally, we are working actively towards expanding operations in the Americas, from our offices based in Florida. The company was established in Mar del Plata city in 1997 as a retail electronic store, which grew into Distribution business in 2003. Two years later, in 2005, we opened our first office in Buenos Aires city, and begun Desktop PCs’ production. Within the next few years, we would confirm key distribution partnerships, among which we can mention Brother, Intel, Gigabyte and Epson. A strong milestone for the company was achieved in 2009, with the construction of our HQ in Mar del Plata City, acquisition of our SMT line for DDR memories and small boards, and the introduction of our own consumer electronics brand, PCBOX, offering a complete line up of tablets, laptops and peripherals. From this point onwards, Grupo Nucleo continued with a decade of increasingly relevant moments: new Buenos Aires office with production facility in 2012, addition of several brands to our operation, where we can highlight Lenovo, which eventually turned Grupo Nucleo to one their main partners in Argentina. 2018 landed with the release of a key BU for the company, Electric Mobility, under our own brand KANY, and in 2019 NEUTRON was born, a cutting edge incubator and accelerator for technology-based start ups that is now harbouring over 15 companies that evidentiate Grupo Nucleo’s active search for new ways where technology applications can improve and make a difference in our communities. One year later, in 2020, Marketplace and Ecommerce BU was established as one of the fastest-growing-to-be units in the company, and a new milestone was met in 2022, with the IRAM certification of our electric and traditional mobility manufacturing facility, enabling our product line up to diversify and attend not only the consumer sector, but also develop last-mile and sharing-model e-bikes for private and public organizations. Finally, it is important to highlight the company’s Technology Education BU, that finds Grupo Nucleo as a key player in Argentina, participating as one of the manufacturers for Conectar Igualdad national education program, as well as a STEAM solutions specialist, being awarded several education projects, from fully-equipped IT labs, to customized Mobile Classrooms, taking qualified IT related trainings to remote areas, helping expand access to education for all. For the next few years, we expect to continue consolidating each of our vertical businesses in Argentina, and promote our expansion in the region.

CE MAGAZINE: In your opinion, what sets Nucleo Group apart from other companies in the industry in Argentina and beyond? What are the core competencies of the company that make it stand out?

Mauro Guerrero:One of the things I believe sets Grupo Nucleo apart, is that the company strives to mantain the young and curious spirit based on which it was founded. This spirit has led to the development of complementing yet diverse Business Units, that go from manufacturing, distribution, e-commerce, to new technologies applications and sustainable transport. This fact enables a 360-outlook of the business, as well as cooperation opportunities between units, promoting team motivation and learning. Furthermore, the dynamic rythm of the global evolution of technologies matches Grupo Nucleo’s agile-based approach to the business, a key value in a world that demands continuous adaptability from the organizations.

CE MAGAZINE:In recent years, Argentina has faced various economic, political, and social challenges. Has this uncertain environment affected the growth of Nucleo Group? If so, how have you adapted to and overcome these challenges?

Mauro Guerrero:Even though certain environment circumstances have undergone new challenges, the same diversified operation that Grupo Nucleo stands on, is what strengthens its capability of leverage on the BU that will provide more advantages based on the market reality. This is the view that allows challenges to become opportunities, and one of the reasons for the company’s stability.

CE MAGAZINE:With the emergence of new technologies such as ChatGPT, AIGC, and the digital age, how does Nucleo Group view these developments, and how do you plan to respond to industry disruptions and technological changes?

Mauro Guerrero:With reference to the new technologies, this is a field that Grupo Nucleo has been approaching in particular, understanding that it is absolutely necessary for an IT company to stay up-to-date on the coming trends. In order to do so, NEUTRON, Grupo Nucleo’s incubator has been working alongside promising projects technology-based, and nowadays count +15 diverse companies, that include blockchain, fintec, videogames and software development, e-sports, aerospace for IoT applications, AI applications, sustainable enerby, among others. This consitute a key hub of R&D, that ultimately provides new business tools and problem-solving methods that can complement the Hardware solutions the company offers.

CE MAGAZINE:What is your outlook on the economic and commercial development of Argentina, and what are your expectations for the Chinese electronics industry? Does Nucleo Group have any plans or strategies for expansion in China? How does the company plan to collaborate with international partners given the distinct characteristics and needs of different markets around the world?

Mauro Guerrero:After these past years during which the pandemic forced a hold in our visits to our partners in China, we see of the outmost importance and with great happiness to be able to resume conversations towards our cooperation possibilities. From our point of view, the plan is to continue to strengthen the ties with chinese companies, being able to find new business strategies to develop and implement together not only in Argentina, but also globally, through the innovations we have also been working on and that can attend needs if different international partners through our alliance with chinese companies. It is also important to highlight that Grupo Nucleo’ plan for the next two years is to expand operations in Latin America region, for which we also count with the strong support of all our partners, and in particular we cherish the relationship with the CECC, who has helped us reach key partners in China that will surely bring promising results.