Orlando Bravo

The devastation of Hurricane Maria accelerated the Bravo Family Foundation’s formation in 2017, but I imagine this foundation is something you’d been thinking about for years. Can you tell us about its pre-traction period, when it was just a dream and a nascent vision?

The Bravo Family Foundation and its Puerto Rican efforts did not start with a grand plan by me or any of us who lead the foundation. It was a moment in time.
[When] Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, I had just come back from a trip to Asia to San Francisco, where I used to live, and I was seeing all of these news reports about how governmental efforts could not get to certain towns because they were impossible to [travel] to.

My brother befriended a reporter who mentioned that there was a town near where I grew up in Mayaguez with a shelter [housing] thirty-five people that had two days left of food and water. [That] hit me really hard. It was a very emotional moment and what I thought about was, “I can do something about this, even if I help one person, even if I help one shelter, that’s enough. I have to do this.” It was a moment where I could do something about it and it was even bigger than that.

I’ve reflected a lot on this, and I’ve become a believer that there are moments that come to every individual where it is up to them to do something about it. And if they don’t do something, nobody else will. And we started [without] knowing what to do.

I had never been engaged in hurricane relief efforts, but we got there within a day with food and water. When we got to the airport, there were all of these other towns looking for help, and there began our mission, which was first a humanitarian mission.

It allowed me to reconnect with many of my high school friends in person and it allowed me to see a beautiful side of the island, which [includes] a lot of smart people, a lot of hardworking people, and a lot of hope with lack of opportunity.

The magnitude of your success has been extraordinary. What is one piece of advice you would give to some of these emerging entrepreneurs, students, or even well-established Latino entrepreneurs with goals to hit the level of success you’ve seen in the next couple of years?

Get lucky. [We] also spoke about that in the podcast. I really mean it. It’s 90-plus percent luck, [being in the] right place at the right time, having the right mentors, and listening to the right people. Of course, you have to keep your heart open, your eyes open, and your ears open for those opportunities. But besides the luck? Step by step, pasito a pasito.

Every single day, no matter what stage of your career that you’re in, what do you want to accomplish that day and be extremely detailed oriented and disciplined? I actually was like that as a little kid, and my mom helped me be that way. She put that sense of discipline and structure in my life, but now I do the same. I wake up and it’s like, let’s go.

It takes time to think big; [just] because we are Latinos doesn’t necessarily mean that our businesses needs to be focused only on the towns or places we’re from. Think bigger than that and that will enable you to compete. You can compete in a much broader market and economy.

So, what’s the next step, the next pasito for the Bravo Family Foundation?

On the Rising Entrepreneur Program, we now have a proven method. [We are asking] “how many of those small companies and entrepreneurs can take it to the next level and raise real venture capital to have a much bigger runway to build their businesses?” That is number one.

On the Community Leaders Program, [we are asking] “can they begin to bring volunteer tourism into those communities to really inspire young people and show that these programs are working and [that] those young people are getting access, they have jobs, their communities are important? And how many of those kids can start pursuing bigger dreams? We’re measuring that [against] the current path that they would otherwise be on.