About Guatavita
A firm that takes its time — because your family deserves that.
We exist to help family businesses think more clearly about the decisions that matter most — not to push them toward an outcome, but to give them the space and structure to find their own.
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How Guatavita came to exist
Guatavita was founded in Medellín by practitioners who had spent years working inside family businesses and alongside them — as advisors, mediators, and occasionally as members of the family themselves. What they saw, again and again, was that family firms faced their most important decisions without a quiet, neutral space to think them through.
Succession. Governance. Roles and responsibilities across generations. These are not problems with clean solutions. They are questions that require time, honesty, and someone who will not push toward any particular answer.
The name Guatavita comes from the highland lake that the Muisca people considered a sacred place of reflection. We chose it because it captures the spirit of our work: a calm, contained space where important things can be considered carefully.
Our Mission
What we are here to do
Our mission is simple: to help family businesses reach decisions that all members can live with — decisions made through reflection, not pressure, and documented in a way that can be revisited as circumstances change.
We do not sell financial products, recommend legal structures, or align with external investors. We work solely in the interest of the family and the firm, and we step back once our role is complete.
Family-centered, not transaction-centered
Pace set by the family, not the consultant
All work documented and owned by the client
No third-party referrals or commissions
The People
Those who lead our work
Andrés Londoño
Lead Consultant · Governance
Andrés has spent fifteen years facilitating governance conversations in family-owned firms across Antioquia. He specializes in helping founders articulate the values their business was built on.
Marcela Castro
Senior Consultant · Succession
Marcela works with next-generation family members who are stepping into ownership or leadership roles, helping them prepare for the responsibilities that come with transition.
Juliana Ríos
Business Analyst · Operations
Juliana leads the analytical dimension of our Whole-Business Study engagements, examining operations and financial structures with attention to detail and a practical eye.
Our Standards
How we conduct our work
Full Confidentiality
Everything shared with Guatavita remains strictly between our team and your family. We operate under written confidentiality agreements on every engagement.
Neutral Facilitation
We do not advocate for any particular outcome. Our role is to structure the conversation so all voices are heard and decisions emerge from the family, not from us.
Written Deliverables
Each engagement produces a clear written document — a charter, plan, or study — drafted collaboratively and reviewed by all relevant parties before it is finalized.
Trained Practitioners
Our consultants hold formal qualifications in organizational development, mediation, and family systems — disciplines that together inform how we approach family business work.
Long-term Perspective
We think in terms of years and generations, not quarters. Our advice is framed around what will serve your family over time, not what is easiest in the short term.
No Conflicts of Interest
We do not accept commissions, referral fees, or commercial arrangements with third parties. Our compensation comes solely from the families who engage us directly.
Family business consulting in Colombia
Family-owned firms in Colombia face a distinctive set of challenges. The intersection of kinship, ownership, and management creates dynamics that standard business consulting rarely addresses well. At Guatavita, we have built our practice specifically around these dynamics — working with firms where the founders, their children, and sometimes a third generation all have a stake in the outcome.
Our approach draws on disciplines that are rarely combined: organizational development, facilitated dialogue, governance design, and financial review. We bring these together in a way that is accessible to families who have not worked with consultants before and are looking for something that feels less like a corporate intervention and more like a structured conversation with a trusted outside perspective.
We work across Antioquia and the broader Colombian business community, and we are comfortable with the cultural context that shapes family firms here — the importance of trust, the role of tradition, and the particular care that succession decisions require in a culture where family is central to everything.
Work with us
Curious about how we might help your family?
We are happy to have an initial conversation with no obligation — to understand your situation and share how our work might be of use.
Get in Touch