Direct access
You talk to the expert, not to their team. The person who understands your problem is the person who works on it and the person who presents the conclusions. No junior analysts in between and nobody translating what you said.
Boutique consulting · Latin America, Europe and North America
We make things happen.
Two partners and six senior leaders. Twenty years of practice each, at minimum. No pyramid and no practice teams: the person who sits down with you is the person who does the work.
- Founded in Bogotá
- 2016
- Minimum experience of every team member
- 20+ years
- Industries we have worked in
- 16
Siete Mares Consulting is a boutique consulting firm headquartered in Bogotá, founded in 2016. We work with boards and executive teams when the decision is expensive, the information is incomplete and the margin for error is narrow.
We bring finance, engineering, economics, geology and agricultural science into the same team. The mix is deliberate: the problems that reach us are almost never purely financial, and large firms tend to solve them with one discipline and a lot of analysts.
Four areas: strategy consulting, technical advisory, error management, and executive strategy workshops. We have worked in Colombia, Spain, Latin America, the United States and Canada, in Spanish and English.
Our work is governed by confidentiality agreements. We present our experience by discipline and by the kind of question we are asked, never by client.
What we do
Four areas, one way of working.
We stay with you from defining the problem through to the execution plan: the competitive view, adaptation to a market that keeps moving, and the first steps when what you are facing is a crisis. We do not hand over a report and leave.
Strategic management
Our approach is full attention. We analyse every aspect to help your company reach its objectives, give you a competitive view and guide you through adapting to your customers' changing needs. If you are facing a crisis, we help you take the first steps toward recovery.
Innovation
In an environment that changes quickly, corporate stillness is fatal. We accompany the process of turning your idea into value for your customers and for your company.
Startup mentoring
Sailing alone or inside an established company, every beginning is full of ambition. To reduce the risk of failure we join you to sharpen your value-creation strategy and your route to market.
We value companies, assets and damages to the standard a court demands. We join forces with your legal team to understand the reality of what is in dispute and to present it as clearly as possible.
Financial advisory
Aware that resources are limited, we secure their optimal allocation. We work with you to build a financial strategy that maximises opportunity and moves toward the long-term vision.
Company valuation
If you are buying or selling a company, we work alongside you to determine the fair value of the assets involved and to ensure a sound transaction for everyone at the table.
Expert reports
When a dispute arises, our experts work with your legal team, applying advanced knowledge to assess and quantify the critical elements of the conflict, adapted to your legal situation.
SONAR
Our own error management methodology.
People, technology and processes fail, and that failure costs health, time, money and delay. SONAR finds what you cannot see from the deck: why it failed, what it truly cost and what can be recovered.
It came out of our own work and we refine it with every engagement. It is not a global template adapted for a local market, and we do not explain it on a web page.
Short, high-impact workshops, or a two to three day retreat for boards. We work directly with the people who decide, not with the people who prepare the deck.
Executive Strategy Workshops
Short, high-impact workshops built to resolve one concrete question in a single session.
Siete Mares Strategy Retreats
A two or three day experience for boards and for the leaders of the organisation.
Why a boutique firm
The advantage is not price. It is distance.
Agility
We react quickly because there are no internal committees or practice approvals to get through. How long a project takes depends on its nature; the ability to respond when something changes halfway through does not depend on any structure.
Our own methods
A small firm creates and executes. Error Management came out of our own work and we refine it with every engagement; it is not a global template adapted for a local market, nor something we have to get approved before we use it.
Depth, not coverage
We do not compete on volume of hours. We get called when the question is hard, specific and expensive to answer badly: a valuation in dispute, an entry decision, an error that has already cost money.
Experience
What we have already navigated.
Organised by theme, not by client. It brings together work done inside the firm and the careers each of us brought with us. Our confidentiality agreements prevent us from naming parties or files, so we describe the question and the method.
Valuation, expert reports and transactions
- Valuation of companies, assets and projects in buy and sell processes.
- IPO and leveraged buyout scenarios.
- Valuation of the sale of a financial institution and of the transaction's effect on its shareholders.
- Valuation of a construction project and a trust arrangement, in response to the opposing expert's report.
- Quantification of consequential loss and lost profit on a construction project.
Market entry and internationalisation
- Market-entry strategies for multinationals in regulated and capital-intensive sectors.
- Creation of a new product category for entry into Asian markets.
- Negotiation of strategic alliances to accelerate growth capacity.
- Design and direction of company internationalisation programmes.
Restructuring and recovery
- Leading an organisational recovery that prevented bankruptcy and restored sustainability.
- Cost management delivering a 50% year-on-year reduction and a 10% improvement in profitability.
- Transition of a business model into a new line, with its financial model and capital structure.
Risk and corporate governance
- Modelling, control and management of financial risk, and redesign of risk policy.
- Board seats and a board vice-chairmanship, with direct dealings with state oversight agencies.
- Risk identification and feasibility assessment on infrastructure projects.
Regulated and capital-intensive sectors
- Water and water treatment, coal, power generation and alternative energy.
- Multimodal transport, logistics, telecommunications and technology.
- Agriculture, agribusiness and infrastructure projects.
Developing leaders
- Teaching on MBA and master's programmes: strategic alignment, organisational transformation and change management.
- Entrepreneurship mentoring in strategy, finance, market entry, innovation and risk.
- Startup evaluation juries and executive education for large corporations.
Our compass
Seven principles, one heading.
The Big Dipper is the constellation you navigate by: its two outer stars always point to Polaris. Six principles orient us; the seventh is the fixed point.
The Big Dipper · six stars point to the seventh
Ikigai
Work gives purpose and meaning to our existence. It is the north star: the fixed point everything else is oriented by.
- We value silence. Keeping our clients' cargo safe matters most, which is why you will not find a single client name here.
- We learn, understand and reason our way to informed, efficient decisions.
- We value prior knowledge and current methods, and we innovate by taking risks.
- Every sea demands its own manoeuvres; we build and execute solutions fitted to your needs.
- The wellbeing of the soul. We make working together welcoming and productive.
- We open doors to companies of every size; their opportunities are our priorities.
- Work gives purpose and meaning to our existence. It is the north star: the fixed point everything else is oriented by.
The crew
Eight names. Twenty years each.
None of us has fewer than twenty years of practice. Doctorates, master's degrees and university teaching in finance, economics, engineering, geology and agricultural science, with careers built across Colombia, Europe and North America. In a boutique firm there is nobody to delegate the hard work to, and that is exactly the point.
Manuel Abelló S.Co-founder & Managing PartnerMBA, MA in Development, Finance and International Relations. Over 20 years in strategy, valuation and market entry. University lecturer and startup mentor.
Ximena FrancoCo-founder & PartnerEngineering, MSc Environmental Management. 27 years in sustainability, circular economy and responsible conduct standards. Currently Director at Florverde Sustainable Flowers.
Germán ForeroVP FinancePhD, MSc Banking and Finance. Financial risk modelling and management, option valuation and risk policy redesign. CFO and university lecturer in financial risk.
Andrea GonzálezVP AgribusinessMSc Economics, MBA. Industry association leader. Agri-food public policy, public-private partnerships and value chain analysis.
Juan Pablo MejíaFinancial analysis & riskFinance and International Relations, specialist in corporate management control. Over 20 years in risk management and investment banking. Lecturer in financial analysis and management, and trainer of analysts.
Rebecca LeeAgricultural & food systemsBScAgr, MSc, PhD. Sustainable agricultural production, biodiversity and multi-institutional coordination in Canada and Colombia.
Carlos A. TorresDesign & product managementIndustrial design. Over 20 years leading creative teams for multinationals across Latin America, the Caribbean, Canada, South Africa and Romania.
Ana María FrancoWater resourcesGeologist specialising in water resources. Over 20 years in disaster prevention and technical studies of water systems. University lecturer.
Industries
Where we sail.
- Agribusiness
- Financial services
- Oil, gas & mining
- Alternative energy
- Logistics
- Technology
- Software
- Water
- Education
- Multilateral organisations
- Communications
- Plastics
- Paper
- Fashion
- Additive manufacturing
- New markets
Frequently asked
What we are usually asked.
What is a boutique consulting firm?
A small, specialised firm where the work is done by the most experienced people rather than by supervised junior teams. There is no pyramid: the person who sits down with the client is the person who executes and answers for it. In exchange for less capacity by volume, it offers direct access, fast decisions and depth in a defined field.
When is a boutique firm the right choice, and when is a large one?
A large firm brings structure, coverage and the capacity for mandates with many simultaneous workstreams. A boutique brings direct access to the most experienced people, with no layers in between. If your question is hard, specific and expensive to answer badly, the boutique is usually better. If you need dozens of people coordinated over months, it is not.
What is error management?
Measuring what a failure costs and recovering what is lost when only the visible problem is addressed. People, technology and processes fail, and that failure carries a price in health, time, money and delay that is almost never calculated. Our own methodology is called SONAR.
Why are there no client names on this site?
Because our confidentiality agreements do not permit it, and because discretion is the first of our principles. We present our experience by discipline and by the kind of question we are asked, never by client. The absence of names is a decision, not a gap.
Do you work outside Colombia?
Yes. We have experience in Colombia, Spain, Latin America, the United States and Canada, and we work in Spanish and English.
What is an expert report, and when is one needed?
An expert report is an opinion prepared by a specialist so that a judicial or administrative authority can understand a technical matter. It is needed when the disagreement is not about the facts but about their measurement: what an asset is worth, what effect a decision had, what was lost. We prepare the report and we sustain it before the tribunal.
How are consequential loss and lost profit quantified?
Consequential loss is what was actually lost; lost profit is what was not earned. Quantifying it means reconstructing the scenario that would have occurred without the damaging event and comparing it with the real one, using assumptions that can be sustained against the opposing party. The difficulty is rarely the calculation: it is justifying every assumption.
How do you charge?
A fixed fee. We work with you to define objectives, scope and goals, and the fee follows from that. We do not bill by the hour.
How long does an engagement last?
As long as the question requires, fitted to the client's need. Not a day longer.
Contact
Tell us what decision is in front of you.
Your message is read by a partner, not a mailbox. We start by understanding the problem, not by presenting credentials. If we are not the right firm, we will say so.