What is the story behind Panama office and how do you see it developing?
The Panama office is the main hub for Finalta in Latin America and The Caribbean. This dedicated team originally was based in Miami, but it moved to Panama in 2019 to be closer to our clients in the region. Panama has the advantage of being a financial and logistical hub for the region, so it allows to be more flexible when we need to meet our clients face to face and we can bring incredibly talented people to work in our team from all countries in the region. As a bonus, we are in the middle of a very dynamic region, Central America, where the banking industry is going through profound and fast changes, allowing us to work with the main players and assist them through it, bringing them the best that Finalta and the Firm can offer.
What makes Panama office special for you?
The Panama office has been a great place since I started here. For us that come from other countries, the people in the office and all around have been very welcoming, we have been able to settle in very quickly, and help the ones arriving after to discover the great things that the city and the country have to offer. For me, being in a team so diverse has helped me understand how local nuances reflect in the data we use for our insights and how we can use them to create recommendations that resonate with our clients' day-to-day experience.
What was your motivation to join Finalta?
Finalta has a unique proposition, a mix between a data provider and a full-fledged consultancy firm, a place where you get to do a little bit of both, with world-class support on each end, as the support that a firm like McKinsey can give at each step of the process. When I finished my master's degree, I was very excited to work with data to help businesses improve. However, I found that positions like that in companies tend to be a little confined, but also I was not happy with a generalist consultant career, I wanted to develop expertise in an industry, and Finalta offered a combination very hard to find. More than a few years later, I have many examples where we have been able to do interesting work on both ends, and I am still learning about an industry that is critical for a well-functioning society.
Tell us about your journey at Finalta and what skills helped you to grow
I started as a Senior Analyst working mainly with Latin American banks, and then I moved on to a Manager position, leading teams of analysts to deliver multiple projects to our clients in the region. The skills that have made the difference for me in my journey in Finalta have been very varied, ranging from an ability to connect how different metrics are interrelated, how to tell a story with data, and how to manage client relationships. In all of these skills, I continue to improve with the support of an amazing team all over the world, people that have always been very generous to share and help.
What advice would you give to someone joining Finalta?
For the ones thinking of joining, I would say that is definitely your place if you like data-driven analysis and use them to uncover untapped potential in very demanding organizations, like banks and insurance companies. And for the ones just starting, keep your eyes peeled! You are joining a team of very talented people that can help you grow very fast, although it is very satisfying figuring things out on your own (and as you progress you should be able to do more of that) at the beginning take advantage of all the knowledge your local and global teams have about the internal tools, clients, and industry.
