Team size: 30

How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crises, and how does your legal strategy align with the broader business strategy to ensure the organisation’s resilience?

I always try to approach those situations with calm, objectivity, optimism, but also precaution.

Legal strategy should be a fundamental piece of the business strategy, always, but especially during periods of instability and crises. Therefore, full involvement and support from the legal front should be provided.

The leadership of the general counsel within the management team should stand up and strengthen in those situations, and legal counsel must be oriented to help the business continue as smoothly as possible while mitigating risks and contingencies.

How do you prioritise diversity and inclusion within your legal department, and what initiatives have you implemented to foster a more inclusive and equitable work environment?

Fostering the inclusion of women lawyers in key positions of the legal department is a habitual practice. Furthermore, recognising their value with awards, not just from the legal department but from the entire company, has been successfully implemented.

Can you discuss a particularly challenging dispute or M&A scenario you encountered and the innovative strategies you implemented to address it?

In June 2023, Viettel Perú – Bitel participated in a highly competitive bidding process for three bands of the telecommunications spectrum, which the government estimated would require a US$600mn investment.

Preparing the technical and financial offer, and understanding its implications, was very challenging. The goal was to provide 4G internet services to over 6,000 remote locations across the country where internet access was either unavailable or limited to 3G and 4G in the best-case scenarios.

To outbid the competitors, who were bigger players in the Peruvian market than Bitel, our strategy was to show minimal interest during the bidding process, but ultimately providing highly competitive offers in terms of investment and timeline. As a result, Bitel emerged as the winner of all three bands.