About

After a short rise to senior positions in the multinational firm PREBEL, and at law firms including Preyra and Bordon covering all elements of commercial, corporate, and legal matters for manufacturing in Colombia, Argentina, Peru and Mexico, Mauricio Martínez Henao studied for an LLM in Business law at the University of Buenos Aires, and returned to Colombia to begin working for C.I. HERMECO (OFFCORSS). OFFCORSS, is an industry leader in the sale of clothing for children, with a presence in Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico and sales in the US, Central and South America. Serving as its chief legal officer, Henao is responsible for all commercial legal matters for the company and is a specialist in mitigation of risk and furtherance of business strategy from within a legal perspective. From implementing an industry-leading digital tracking software management system using cloud technology, to the latest compliance and regulatory requirements Henao leads his team with this business-centric but prudent approach. His digital tracking system is one of the few implemented in the fashion sector in the region, and it is important to the company’s track record of having zero consumer rights related claims and litigations since 2017. Corporate practises are key to Henao’s strategy of equity between the company and its customers and he has been crucial in the facilitation of this strategy by creating new policies on corporate governance, ethics, anti-money laundering, fraud, and policy of non-conflict of interest with public figures. This effort has paid off with the reduction by 70% of internal fraud within the company since 2016 and led to the company being certified as an Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) by the Customs and Tax Authority in Colombia, an eight month process led by Henao. Another innovation led by Henao is the introduction of automated low value contracts and compliance with local and international data protection law including the EU’s GDPR regulation to increase efficiency. About this Henao says, ‘the most relevant thing to keep in mind, is that this project does not need an investment of external advisors or cost overruns, because this project was made by internal personnel of the company, so all the efficiencies achieved were converted into savings for the company in time and money’. Since 2016, Henao has been part of the Regulation Commission of the Colombian Chamber of Electronic Commerce and he worked to make sure that the US was included on a list of countries permitted to store Colombian citizens’ data, the failure of which would have meant a significant reduction in the export market to the US with profound implications for OFFCORSS, further demonstrating his negotiating acumen.