Corporacion San Diego is a sugar-cane production company based in Guatemala . Its history goes back to the 1940s when Faterno Vila Betoret , business executive and founder of Ingenio San Diego , opened this sugar mill as part of his corporate vision of elevating the country ’ s agribusiness .

During the first harvest , San Diego produced around 300,000 tons of sugar . By 1960 , Vila Betoret decided to open a new mill with an installed capacity of 60 thousand tons of sugar production per year .

With the company ’ s growth , a second generation of entrepreneurs joined San Diego in the 1980s . Among them was the current CEO of the company , Fraterno Vila Giron , along with family members Alfredo Vila ( brother ), Luis and Víctor ( brother-in-law ), who soon enough was involved in the administrative business-family sphere . His first major accomplishment was the acquisition of a small sugar mill with a great strategic location : Ingenio Trinidad . The new acquisition provided competitive advantages to the Corporacion because of its proximity to the port and by producing 72,000 tons of sugar cane per harvest .

“ We are a family business which was originally directed by my father . He established the foundation of this company ,” says Vila Giron .

In 2009 , the original sugar mill “ San Diego ” was

70 November 2014

Food Magazine November 2014 | Page 70

Corporacion San Diego is a sugar-cane production company based in Guatemala . Its history goes back to the 1940s when Faterno Vila Betoret , business executive and founder of Ingenio San Diego , opened this sugar mill as part of his corporate vision of elevating the country ’ s agribusiness .