Álvaro Fernando Noboa Pontón (born November 21, 1950) is an Ecuadorian businessman and politician. He is the father of the incumbent president, Daniel Noboa.
Noboa has been actively involved in politics as a perennial candidate, unsuccessfully running for the office of President of Ecuador in 1998, 2002, 2006, 2009 and 2013. In 2007, however, he was elected national assemblyman. In 2013, Noboa ran for office for the fifth time unsuccessfully. In the 2023 Ecuadorian general election, his son, Daniel Noboa, was elected President of Ecuador, the youngest ever to hold that position.
In 1997, already owning 24% of Bonita Bananas, Noboa purchased another 25% of the shares of the holding company for the family business. Presently, he runs the Noboa Group of Companies and Noboa Corporation, with more than 110 companies in Ecuador and around the world, including branch offices in United States, Antwerp, Rome, Japan, Argentina, and New Zealand.
Personal life and education Noboa attended San José La Salle Catholic School in Guayaquil as well as the Institut Le Rosey in Switzerland. He entered the University of Guayaquil, graduating with a legal degree. He also studied business administration at the American Management Association in New York. He is trilingual. Noboa decided to pursue his professional career in the business field as an entrepreneur.Álvaro Noboa's Biography
His sister is business executive Isabel Noboa. Noboa's brother-in-law, Omar Quintana, was president of the C.S. Emelec football club and served as the former President of National Congress of Ecuador in 2005. His son Daniel Noboa Azin has been the president since November, 2023 after winning the 2023 Ecuadorian general election.
Business life Family business, inheritance and litigation The estate of Álvaro Noboa's late father, Luis Noboa Naranjo, the founder of the family's banana business, was the subject of protracted litigation. According to Forbes magazine,Freedman, Michael. , Forbes, March 17, 2003. Luis Noboa's heirs spent $20 million in legal fees culminating in a ruling by a British court: "In November 2002 a London judge found that Álvaro rightfully owned a 49% stake in Fruit Shippers Ltd., the holding company for the family business. That stake is worth $300 million, we estimate. Noboa, who has made our billionaire's list previously, claims his assets are worth at least $1 billion. 'It was a full victory', Noboa said."
The court's ruling said: "The principal business of Luis No boa Narrator was the export of bananas. But at the time of his death his interests also included coffee, sugar refining, flour milling, shipping, banking, insurance and soft drinks. The principal Ecuadorian company engaged in the banana business was Exportation [sic.] Banneker No boa S.A. (EBN). The ultimate holding company and the company owning most of the overseas business was [Fruit Shippers Ltd.] a company incorporated in the Bahamas."De Molestina and others v. Ponton and others. Queens Bench Division EWHC 2413. According to the Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft Law firmCadwalader, Wickersham & Taft Law firm web site - LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--November 21, 2002. The Hon. Mr. Justice Langley, rejected the evidence of the sisters and he held that their evidence was untruthful and "had been starkly exposed as inconsistent, lacking coherence and wholly unreliable".
Business In 1973, Noboa established Promandato Global S.A., a firm that unites several real estate companies considered to be one of the largest firms in Ecuador. In 1988, he founded Revista La Verdad, a monthly magazine.Revista La Verdad magazine history, revista-laverdad.com. Accessed 12 January 2024. On 22 April 1988, he founded Banco del Litoral.Banco del Litoral Banco del Litoral History. Accessed 12 January 2024. On 22 July 1988, he established Global Financing CompanyGlobal Financing Company - History, financieraglobal.com. Accessed 12 January 2024. and other investment companies on an international scale. All these companies and businesses together became known as [Grupo de Empresas Ab. Alvaro Noboa P.] His exporting company, Exportadora Bananera Noboa, had sales of $220 million in 2004 and $219 million in 2005.Las 25 que más vendieron, Revista Vistazo No. 938, 14 September 2006.
Latin American meeting
Since 2003, Alvaro Noboa has attended the annual Entrepreneurial Meeting for Latin American Businessmen. The summit was born in 2003 by initiative of the Mexican Carlos Slim, a personal friend of Noboa. The meeting was not meant to discuss their business concerns but rather to broach social issues in the region. It has been held in Mexico in 2003,El Universo newspaper Alvaro Noboa attending Businessmen meeting Dominican Republic in 2004, Brazil in 2005,Encuentro Empresrial Brasil 2005 Alvaro Noboa en Cumbre Brasil 2005 Argentina in 2006,Revista Fortuna Cumbre de los más ricos del mundo - Argentina 2006 Chile in 2007El Comercio newspaper V Fathers and sons summit - Chile 2007 and Panamá in 2008.Panamá 2008 Alvaro Noboa among Latinamerican businessmen Meeting
Labour practices
Usleap once accused Noboa of opposing campaigns for workers' rights within his own companies, and Noboa Group workers have been illegally dismissed for joining trade unions. In one 2002 incident striking workers at a Noboa subsidiary were attacked and–according to a Human Rights Watch report–several were shot by organized assailants.
In 2002 the New York Times reported on working conditions on Álvaro Noboa's banana plantations in Ecuador. The article specifically mentioned the plantation known as Los Álamos that employed about 1,300 people.Forero, Juan. In Ecuador's Banana Fields, Child Labor Is Key to Profits, The New York Times, July 13, 2002. The workers of Los Álamos unionized in March 2002. Noboa's company responded by firing more than 120 of them. The article read: "When the workers occupied part of the hacienda, guards armed with shotguns, some wearing hoods, arrived at 2 a.m. on May 16, according to workers, and fired on some who had refused to move from the entrance gate, wounding two."
Noboa's company, on the other hand, claims that the conflict was illegally initiated since the number of workers' with which the special committees were assembled never reached the number required by law, that is, a majority. They tried to fool authorities by having participants who were not workers. Both the workers' committee and the strike declaration were illegal.
It was said to the public and press that workers involved in this conflict were guilty of outrageous conduct at the farm, which motivated accusations brought forth before the authorities whereby the police had to intervene in order to safeguard company assets. The company told that conflict arose causing substantial losses due to unlawful stoppage of agricultural activity.The Alamos Conflict - The Truth of the matter, The Truth of the matter
Child labor Noboa Group was also criticized in a HRW investigation into child labor practices in the banana industry. In April 2002 Human Rights Watch released a report that "found that Ecuadorian children as young as eight work on banana plantations in hazardous conditions, while adult workers fear firing if they try to exercise their right to organize."Ecuador: Widespread Labor Abuse on Banana Plantations, Human Rights Watch, April 25, 2002.
Chiquita, Del Monte, Dole, Favorita and Noboa's company were all accused of being supplied by plantations on which children worked. Noboa's company claims that to be untrue since child labor in the agricultural sphere is part of the existing countryside culture which not only asked but demanded the performance of some type of agricultural labor from its siblings during vacations, in order to make ends meet, and to avoid vagrancy and therefore the possibility of delinquent behavior. It was pointed out that the work performed by these minors, and which fulfilled social and family-oriented needs, was always adequate for their age group and received all guarantees and conditions contemplated in social and labor legislation. It was said to the public: "Ever since abolishment of child- labor became a reality in agricultural concerns, Noboa Corporation took corrective measures to the extent that child- labor has been non-existent for many years not even for minors 15-18 years old which is permissible by law, due to consistent political attacks which distort the truth of the matter."Child Labor controversy, alvaronoboa.com. Accessed 12 January 2024.
Business practices
In search of new international markets
As a businessman always on the lookout for new business opportunities and concerned about the economic situation of his country, Álvaro Noboa announced his decision in October 2009 to search for new international markets for his products, organizing meetings with foreign investors to bring about new deals.CRE Oct 2009 Álvaro Noboa in search of new international markets
"Ecuador suffers from an internal crisis cancer," he asserted to the country's press media, forcing him to visit countries like France, Croatia, Belgium and Spain, among others, and which have invited him to invest, while in Ecuador there is no support for business development given by Rafael Correa's government.El Universo Newspaper Oct 2009 Alvaro Noboa critica al presidente por crisiseldiario.ec Oct 2009 Alvaro Noboa recorre el mundo en busca de nuevos mercados "I am too demotivated and knocked back to continue investing," said Álvaro Noboa to one member of the press who asked him about the reasons for his decision. The former candidate stated that "In Ecuador there are so many problems that we have slowed down investment a bit. Now we are going to look at continuing development of agricultural production, but in other countries like China, Macedonia, India, and various regions of Africa. There, from the outset, they exempt us from paying taxes for five years and they grant us political protection, incentives, and we are even seen as popular heroes for giving employment, while here in Ecuador we are persecuted."El Comercio Newspaper Oct 2009 I am too demotivated and knocked back to continue investing
Markets like England and Eastern Europe are seen now as potential new clients for Ecuadorian products, such as bananas, flowers, crafts, shrimp, rice, and tuna, among others, according to the intentions manifested by Álvaro Noboa in his new worldwide commercial undertaking.Los Andes Newspaper Oct 2009 Alvaro Noboa in search of new international marketss "There is a negative view of Ecuador in the world because of the political system it employs." He was able to perceive this reaction during his international tour of European countries in search of new markets for Ecuadorian products. He also mentioned that the products that Ecuador generates for the world are considered to be of good quality and cost.La Hora Newspaper Oct 20-2009 Alvaro Noboa critica política del régimen
Shell companies