GERARDO CALVO
The Enterprise: YUXI GLOBAL
Name: Gerardo Calvo
Title: General Manager
How many years have you been in the Cincinnati Region? 10
Home Country: Spain
Meet Gerardo
Gerardo was born and raised in Spain, where he studied Telecommunications Engineering. Gerardo got an Erasmus scholarship and finished his masters in Sweden, where he lived for a year. He always loved the mix of business and engineering and a family friend suggested he should do an MBA at Xavier, so he packed his bags and, after looking at a map to see where Cincinnati was, he came here. Halfway through, he got a job at a local company, met his now wife, and started developing roots in this community. 10 years later, and after an initial career in innovation and product development, he manages an international software firm with offices in the US and Latin America, have two wonderful kids and he is a West Sider head to toes.
How was YUXI Global Founded?
Yuxi Global started from the need the portfolio of companies I worked for had to find top IT talent to solve the toughest tech challenges, and we’ve built it into an IT consulting organization with operations in 5 countries that serves customers in Asia, Europe and the Americas. We’ve developed strong partnerships with tech leaders like Microsoft and Google and currently work with over 20 universities to develop the tech leaders of tomorrow.
What is your biggest dream for your company?
That we continue to grow and provide opportunities to the wonderful team we have here in Cincinnati and in our Latin American offices. We’ve been growing rapidly in these past few years and the two things that have stuck with me are the repaid trust our customer put in us when they signed with Yuxi instead of with a larger, better known firm, and the success stories amongst our Yuxians. We’ve provided countless first job opportunities and bettered the lives of hundreds of families. I want to continue that trend and consolidate our position as a global firm.
What is your mission/purpose?
On the professional side, we want to solve the most complex technical issues in our world and continue to be a difference maker for our customers, their secret weapon to get ahead of their competitors.
On the social side, we want to continue providing opportunities to those women and men who want to learn from the best to become the best they can be. And engaging with universities, minority-supporting organizations and local governments to use technology as a vehicle to reduce poverty and provide opportunities to less favorable communities.
What does your company mean to the community?
Our local customers see us as a better partner than traditional ISVs. We have the best talent, move faster and provide end-to-end expertise. They get more done with less.
Our communities see an ally in us. We want to grow the local tech base, so when they open their doors to us, we respond by sharing our expertise, our infrastructures and our personal time to provide training, internships and job opportunities.
You could have opened your business elsewhere. Why Cincinnati?
The group already had a large footprint in the area, had invested heavily in facilities and talent, and made the decision to grow from Cincinnati outwards. Second to that is the startup ecosystem that’s been brewing for a while and the regional proximity to tech hubs that are a short flight or a drive away.
How do you define success?
To me success is to be able to do what I’m passionate about and be in a position to grow Yuxi as well as me personally every day. Success is also to be surrounded by an amazing family, great mentors and a team that is as hungry as I am. And finally, success is to stay healthy, to be able to spend quality time with my family and some time outdoors to reset my brain.
What challenges have you faced being a minority entrepreneur?
No more or less than anyone trying to build a business from the ground up. Some doors might have been harder to open, but others we’re kicking down with the help of great partners like the CMBC. Overall, I think we’re in a much better position to succeed that those who came before us. The support we get from organizations at different levels and the democratization of the different sales channels the Internet has provided make it easier than ever to start a business and conquer new audiences.
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