Four years of achievements

By: María Cecilia Hernández

For four consecutive years, Eduardo Capelo served as president of the Argentine Chamber of Electronic Security (Casel). He was recently appointed as vice president of that institution and in his transition process the engineer Capelo was invited in this edition of VENTAS DE SEGURIDAD to talk about the development of his activities in Casel during his presidential term, the evolution of this entity in recent years and the balance of his management as president.

In 2002, Capelo joined as a member of the Chamber and immediately demonstrated the deep interest he had in it through his many initiatives and proposals. It could be said that he connected as soon as he entered and since that moment he has never ceased to be one of the most active members of the institution.

From the beginning of his incorporation he participated in the meetings of the Board of Directors, although he was not a member of it. At that time he vehemently proposed that Indexport Messe Frankfurt be the organizer of the Seguriexpo fair, an action that, according to the businessman, brought great benefits to the Chamber. He also organized courses and trainings at the Universidad del Salvador in Buenos Aires, Argentina. "From these actions I rescue two fundamental issues; first, that if one feels like participating, it does not matter if one is a member or not of the Board of Directors and, second, that Casel is always open to channel the concerns of those who want to collaborate, "said the engineer.

With the aim of taking advantage of Capelo's endless energy and successful initiatives, in 2004 the Chamber integrated him directly occupying the position of vice president of that collectivity. Very soon he advanced along the managerial path and was appointed as president of Casel, a role he held from 2006 to 2010. Marcelo Colanero was recently appointed to the presidential post and Eduardo Capelo returned to the vice presidency of the entity, "from this position I will continue to participate actively for the growth of the Chamber," emphasizes the new vice president.

Four years of positive results
As explained by the engineer Capelo, the positive results of its management can be evidenced in different topics; the first of these has to do with the strengthening of the institutional presence in the business and national context.

At present, the entity is recognized and valued in both public and private media as an entrepreneurial nucleus that has its weight both in the field of security and in the development of the electronic industry. In this way, it has been able to strengthen its links with the security authorities of the Province of Buenos Aires and the City of Buenos Aires, and now its participation in standardization and certification institutions such as the National Institute of Industrial Technology (Inti) and the Argentine Institute of Standardization and Certification (Iram) is greater.

Casel has also been integrating the academic sector into its processes, "we are collaborating with top-level universities such as the University of Buenos Aires, the University of Salvador, the Technological Institute of Buenos Aires and the University Institute of the Federal Police. We established links with professional engineering associations such as the Professional Council of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (Copime) and the Professional Council of Telecommunications, Electronics and Computer Engineering (Copitec)," explained the businessman.

In this task the cooperation of different institutions has been transcendental, these companies are the Argentine Chambers of Security (CAS), of Electronic, Electromechanical, Lighting, Telecommunications, Informatics and Automatic Control Industries (Cadieel), of Alarm Monitoring Companies of the Argentine Republic (Cemara), of Security and Research Companies (Caesi), of Leading Security and Research Companies (Celsi) and the Argentine Confederation of Medium Enterprises (Came), among others.

The now Vice President Capelo emphasizes that during his presidency no effort was spared in the consolidation of Casel's positive relations with the business environment; this includes the gestation of healthy connections with international institutions such as the Latin American Security Association (Alas), Tecnifuego – Aespi of Spain, Abese of Brazil, the Electronic Security Chamber of Uruguay and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) of the United States.

Clean finances
The consolidation and order of Casel is the second point that the engineer highlighted in his management balance. "The Chamber was always characterized by managing its finances with austerity and intelligence, using its revenues to meet its objectives; in this way, we were able to finish paying for our own headquarters, in which we have a library and a room to teach training courses offered by both the Chamber and some of its partners, "said Eduardo Capelo.

The businessman added that during his presidency they managed to have orderly balances that allowed them to continue with their training function, grant scholarships, solve congresses, areas of demonstration of electronic security systems, etc.

Through the healthy management that was given to the finances of the institution, the academic activity achieved a very profitable sustained development. "We taught various Courses in Electronic Security that were developed at our headquarters, at the Universidad del Salvador and at Seguriexpo. We also develop and run business training courses; we organize seminars like the one given for countries and closed neighborhoods. I hope that after this we will continue with other trainings in different specialties," he said.

Events are open doors
During these last four years, the Argentine Chamber of Electronic Security organized different activities and events that served to nourish its experience, exchange knowledge and establish true ties of cooperation. Two security congresses were held: the Comprehensive Security Congress in 2008 in conjunction with NFPA, IRAM and CAS and the International Electronic Security Congress in 2009. Both events were attended by expert speakers from the United States, Spain, Brazil and other Latin American countries.

In the last four years the entity managed to increase the number of members of the Chamber by 38% and has now exceeded the figure of one hundred members, that is, at least 40 new companies joined Casel.

"My tenure as president fortunately coincided with a period of good business for the industry as a whole, this meant that entrepreneurs had to concentrate on multitasking to maintain this upward market dynamic. Despite the many occupations of all the employers, I must say that I felt accompanied by the other members of the Board of Directors; I know that they were present as long as their business and personal obligations allowed them. This was evident in the large turnout that the meetings of the last periods had," said Capelo.

"To finish I want to wish the greatest success to the new President of Casel, my friend Marcelo Colanero, who will always count on my collaboration as well as I received his support, advice and company in various phases of my management," concluded Eduardo Capelo.