Angelo Pinasco: Being the first is not easy, you face challenges that others don’t

“Success belongs to those who take risks” is not only the title of the book with which entrepreneur Angelo Pinasco seeks to inspire and motivate his readers, it is also a life story in which the Sacred City of Caral, Cultural Heritage of Humanity, is present and the author admits it changed his life. “This book allows to know through personal stories how I managed to bring tourists to a lodge in a remote place, a few minutes away from Caral, I was the first entrepreneur to venture into a lodge with rooms and restaurant. Being the first is not easy, you face challenges that others don’t,” says Pinasco.

Caral changed your life, did it?

It changed my life completely. I must have known the sacred city back in 2005, when I started working in a family farm and I always passed by Caral, which at that time was not yet recognized. The pyramids were already discovered, I knew Dr. Ruth Shady, I knew the archaeologists working in the area, but tourism was just beginning.

Was Caral not yet declared a World Heritage Site? Exactly, the thing is that this recognition arrived only in 2009, but international reports had already been made, Dr. Shady’s research had been published and proved that Caral was the oldest city in America. But believe it or not, it took me a lot to make it known as a tourist destination, for people to go there.

You were convinced that it was necessary to work on that….

It is important that tourism is something more, it is very important the culture and what identifies us as Peruvians, but it has to be tied to marketing, to the experience, to the flavor, to the gastronomy, to everything that ties the citadel. The experience is the important thing, when you choose a destination for tourism, people have to have a good time, not only to know.

Wasn’t there any accommodation close to Caral when it was declared Cultural Heritage of Humanity?

There was absolutely nothing, and I set out to grow in Peru. I saw a business opportunity that included a ranch house and a farm inherited from the 50s, with a spectacular view of the entire valley, because the site is majestic, with Caral on the side. I said: this is a business opportunity, even if it is the only one.

And when did you open the lodge?

In 2016, I started opening 4 rooms, they were all ready, but I said I was going to be cautious, before this proposal that was innovative for the destination, we started opening 4, from there we opened 8, from there in 2017, actually, it was that we started with the 22. We opened during the pandemic, before the disaster, it is also important to mention it, because it was horrible for everyone, but believe it or not, by the end of 2020 we were able to open with all the capacity and permits.

Is it precisely all this adventure that you tell in your book?

I really wanted to contribute something of value with the book, because in the end it is an undertaking and the reader should know what experiences I had to go through for people to get to know the lodge, especially Caral. These are personal experiences, what was the most difficult for me, and what was the most challenging, as an entrepreneur.

Do you seek to motivate others to carry out their projects?

What I hope from my book is to inspire entrepreneurs to achieve their dreams. To make them come true. You don’t need large sums of money. What matters most is the business opportunity you identify, your business model, but above all, the passion you put into it.

Based on your experience, would you dare to give some basic advice for those who want to start a business?

Of course, I think it is important to see how the market where you are going to go is moving, if it is growing, if it is stagnant, if it is falling, or if it at least exists. Because if you are going to enter a market that is falling, dying, that does not promise anything. I saw a booming tourism that still exists and I bet on it.