“Joshe” Ordóñez, from Cuenca shines in NY with his company “Airpals”

María José Ordóñez Moscoso, better known as "Joshe", is a 27-year-old from Cuenca, graduated in Textile and Fashion Design at the University of Azuay. She has lived in New York for six years and is currently the manager of the Airpals messaging service, aimed at the corporate sector. 

While in college, "Joshe" had his first work experience at BG Magazine. Later, he traveled to New York and graduated as a Master in Design Management (MPS). 

According to María José, she always worked in fashion and design, although with different companies dedicated to fashion manufacturing or advertising. “I got involved in the logistics area, coordinating the materials or products that go between countries or cities,” she said. 

The Cuencana has worked with well-known designers from New York and even renowned agencies, doing photo shoots for magazines. “While I was doing my work, I lived a reality. It was easier to ship items from anywhere in the world to anywhere, but there was a complication with shipping from one area of ​​New York to another area of ​​the same city,” she explained. 

These were not products that were transferred by the motorized service, but rather items for the operations of the companies. “For example, if we were putting together a photo shoot and we needed to pick up equipment from the rental house, it was a problem,” he recounted. 

“Joshe” Ordóñez managed the budget of the companies. "We had budgets of more than $300.000 for a photo shoot and part of that money was used for logistics," he said. 

Living this reality, he began to hire his Ecuadorian friends, including people from Cuenca, to carry out this activity and a community was created. 

With the arrival of the pandemic, the companies in which he worked were affected by staff reduction and economic problems. “I ventured to offer that service that was created with the companies with which I worked. This is how Airpals was born, which today is a solution”, he referred. 

The results were excellent, so he quit his job to make Airpals a formal activity. 

Evolution 

Its beginnings were with WhatsApp and the evolution was immediate. By December 2020, they launched a platform. “Even though we modernized, it was still basic to what the tech industry is, but it was a better customer experience because it was digital,” he said. 

Important companies in New York were linked to the initiative of the Cuencana. “When we saw that it was becoming something special, I decided to change the focus. The initial idea of ​​a small business and hiring people evolved into having investors,” she noted. Thus, at the end of February 2021, it launched an investment round and it was successfully closed in September. 

In the investment round they had the largest fund in Ecuador such as Buen Trip Ventures, from Quito, Ecuador; MGV Capital of Texas, United States; Power Up Fund through the organization Impact Assets, from the United States; Launch Accelerator, from the United States, founded by Jason Calacani, as well as other angel investors from Panama and New York. "With the investments of Jason Calacani we became the first Ecuadorian company with a female founder, without a co-founder", explained "Joshe". 

The business of the Cuencana was revealed in an interview published by Forbes magazine, echoing throughout the continent. 

Company 

Airpals have been in the market for a year and have invoiced up to 48.000 dollars per month. Growth has been rapid and investors have bet on the company seeing progress in a short time and with minimal resources. 

The goal to end this year is to have the first version of the platform that will allow customers to manage orders and for next year, hire more staff to generate company growth and thus add more customers. “We have more than 200 clients. We are not a company that goes to the consumer, nor do we transport food or transport e-commerce products. We are specifically dedicated to the internal operations of our clients”, clarified the woman from Cuenca. 

According to “Joshe”, being involved in the fashion industry made it easier for her to find potential clients. “Now they also search for us on the recommendation of other people or because we are online and we are the solution to their problems, appearing in the search results,” she said. 

unicorn status 

The dream of the woman from Cuenca is for her company to have unicorn status, valued at more than 1 billion dollars. If so, Airpals would be the first unicorn company led by Latin or Ecuadorian women. 

María José is happy for the support of the community and made a comparison that "to incorporate a company in the United States it can be done in 5 minutes online, while to do it in Ecuador it is a whole process, which can delay the presence competitive in the market”. 

Airpals technology is built by Cuencanos. The Director of Engineering is María Belén Abad; David Pazmiño, Software Developer; Cristian Ramón, Senior UX Designer and Marian Ovalles, Operations Coordinator (USA). "Joshe" also thanked the Enderica-Ochoa family, Cuencanos who have given him their help in New York. 

The businesswoman assured that Cuenca has talented professionals, but unfortunately to exploit their potential they have had to export their service to various parts of the world. (JRU) (I)