Servientrega: Co-Founders in Competition (Spanish)

One of the biggest logistics services providers in Colombia, Servientrega started out as a one-man courier operation on the streets of Bogota in 1982. Jesus Guerrero, an enterprising messenger boy, set up his own delivery service at the age of 18. After attracting more clients than he could handle, he persuaded his sister Luz Mary to join the company and invest her savings in exchange for half of the shares. Before long, Servientrega was growing so fast that they employed other siblings. Jesus gave one brother a 5% share in the business, expecting his sister to do the same. However, she held on to her 50% and used her majority shareholder position to take over, forcing her brother out of the CEO job. Jesus began acquiring new logistics operations that he consolidated into the Guerrero Group, which today has 39 subsidiaries (including Servientrega) and employs 28,500 people. The lawsuits that plagued the former partners and put their venture at risk ultimately prompted Jesus to launch a competitor to Servientrega, RedServi.

The case offers an opportunity to learn from a family-owned company whose principal shareholders got into a dispute with dramatic consequences for their business. A minor dispute between brother and sister over a 5% shareholding led to a series of lawsuits that put the family-owned firm at risk. Students will be challenged to explain why the brother decided to start a new company to compete with the original company that he founded years earlier. The case illustrates how family conflicts can have unexpected results, such as the formation of a rival business.