Name: Bellarmine Fall 2016 Speaker Series | Mario Otero, Cuban Entrepreneur
Start: 2016-10-11T17:30:00+00:00
End: 2016-10-11T19:00:00+00:00
Location: Bellarmine University | Centro Hall

Based on experience gained during his work in hotels, restaurants and travel agencies in the U.S. and Cuba, Mario started his first business in 2010. He started with very modest monthly profits but with the help of friends, an article that Associated Press wrote about him named “Thawing of Relations Cuba USA” and an interview by CCTV, he became a popular face among the new entrepreneurs in Cuba. His accommodation business grew and in just a year he had the opportunity to buy the property on which is located the house where he grew up. He is now renovating the building with the objective of creating another hostel. The growing of American tourism to Cuba and the lack of rooms in Havana gave him a new business model. He recently started another company, Mayito’s B&B, managing accommodations in Havana. There are around 25,000 private accommodations in Cuba and he manages fully or partially more than 200 of the best ones. Mario is also working with a group of engineers developing software to facilitate the management of rooms, bookings, finances, profits and expenses of Cubans that own B&Bs. He is creating a web site for Cuban travel agencies that will offer ground services, including customized tours and touristic packages, but implementation of this project is awaiting government increases in the number of private business options. As he says, “It seems like I am in the right place, with the right age and at the right time.”