Baker Tilly in image. It's 6:30 in the morning, this is Imagen Empresarial. This morning we have in the studio, and I'm very happy about it, Manuel Aguilar, the managing partner of Baker Tilly in Mexico, and Francesca Lagerberg, she is the CEO of Baker Tilly International. Francesca, thank you very much for being here. Manuel, welcome. Thank you, thank you. Fran, with you, you were telling me that you are here in Mexico from a couple of days and you have a meeting of all the markets here in Mexico City.
What is your outlook in terms of 2025? Obviously here in Mexico Donald Trump is a big issue. It is around the world. We don't know even in England, Great Britain, and all Europe. What take?
And I ask her, what is your perspective? You have had a meeting here in Mexico talking about all markets. Obviously in Mexico the Donald Trump issue is important, and I tell her, well, it is around the world, and she tells me that the key word is volatility. There are new parties, new governments, new ideas, positive things but also challenging things.
In terms of growth, it seems to have been doing quite well the regions that we have across the world. There's been no region that's really struggled, and we've also been strong in audit, tax advisory, and we have some legal sides as well. So that suggests that clients are looking for a multidisciplinary approach. They want to see things that help them in all the areas that they're interested in. So it's not as though...
One thing they have had in the firm is global growth of 99%. I ask, what has driven it and the strategies they have, and she tells me that globally they have revenues of 26,000 million dollars. Practically all regions have done very well. There is no region that is in difficulties. Obviously the practice of taxes and audit has been important, also legal, but above all because they have developed a multidisciplinary strategy, and that has caused all the strategies, sorry, all the regions, to advance.
Now what is the strategy, the short, middle, and long term of the firm to navigate all this volatility, which is...
Not very good at, but you need to have a long game. You need to know what you're trying to achieve. What's your North Star? Where are you trying to get to? And your clients want to know for them where's their ambition going to take them. But you have to plan today to be ready for it. You can't build a business that will be double in size or triple in size without starting today. So we have a very clear ambition for where we would like to be in 3 years' time, 5 years' time. These days it's hard to plan much beyond 5 years, but we need to build infrastructure, offerings, services to make that work for that future.
I ask her, what is the strategy and how do you balance the short, medium, and long term? And she tells me, well, navigating challenging times is exactly what a firm like Baker Tilly does. She tells me that they have begun to plan for 3 to 5 years. It is difficult, obviously, in these times to plan for 5 years, but the idea is to deploy the infrastructure and that allows them to develop the estimated growth.
Manuel, it's your turn. Well, you are in this market, in the North America region, obviously one of the most important in the Latin America region. How are you seeing, especially, the Mexican and Latin American part, given the challenge we have in the North America region, especially because of what we are practically starting with, and it's the Donald Trump challenge. Yes.
Well, there are things that are not going to change definitively. There are challenges, but things that don't change: our geographic location, our young population, we have a demographic bonus, and the perspective of commercial and business openness. Mexico is one of the few Latin American countries that has no exchange controls, there is free movement of capital, and that has been a great help, a great differentiator for the country in the region. And we are also a hinge country because we share with Latin America culture and many things, and yet we form part of the North American economic bloc. Effectively, yes, there are protectionist tendencies, there are new challenges, tariffs. Definitely we think there will be some, and there will be industries that are more affected and others that, on the contrary, will see opportunities. And we are here at Baker Tilly to help companies and entrepreneurs achieve their objectives, help them create value, and also preserve that value.
Francesca, what will you say about nearshoring? We are seeing a whole discussion because now the United States, we tend to think in the years before that Mexico is the place of nearshoring in terms of many companies that are in China or Asia are relocating to Mexico. Maybe it's obvious also, but now with this new political landscape in the United States, maybe it's going to change, maybe it's not. We don't know. Because the United States has challenges in terms of its competition with China. What's your take on the nearshoring thing?
We never know exactly where it's going to fall, but if you look at the desire to have politically stable great countries that have got good talent, there is such a demand for resources and you need to manage your expenditure. There's going to be a need for great countries to do that, and I think Mexico will be one of those players.
Clearly, I ask her how she sees the famous nearshoring, because until a few years ago obviously there was the perception of relocation of companies from Asia to Mexico and other countries, obviously Vietnam also has an interesting role. And she tells me that what is needed is political stability, obviously talent, where there is competition for talent. Well, that remains, and a country like Mexico continues to have those comparative advantages that are not necessarily eroded. And how are you experiencing it, Manuel, especially because in the last part of last year and the beginning of this one, perhaps there is some caution when deploying investments? How are you experiencing it in the firm?
Look, honestly, we have not stopped receiving projects. Probably not on a very large scale or very, very large projects, some, but yes, they don't stop. I think it is helping us a lot the great relationship we have and the way we collaborate with our peers at Baker Tilly in the United States and Canada. Yes, effectively there is some caution, I repeat and insist, on industries like energy or oil where there is some caution. They are still waiting to see how certain things unfold, but undoubtedly Mexico remains a very attractive country. In consumption, for example, there is still interest, there is still interest also in technology, because our North American neighbors need talent and are establishing centers of excellence here in Mexico to operate technology businesses. And those are the type of industries we should aim for.
I have to take a break.
If we may, we can have another lot more time. But now they are with me, Francesca Lagerberg, the CEO of Baker Tilly International, and also Manuel Aguilar, the managing partner of Baker Tilly in Mexico. We are going to take a break. This is Imagen Empresarial, don't change the channel. We'll be back in a moment with more.
It's 6:40 in the morning. This is Imagen Empresarial. This morning in the studio, Francesca Lagerberg, she is the CEO of Baker Tilly International, and Manuel Aguilar, the managing partner of Baker Tilly in our country. And well, we are talking about the complex panorama. Francesca, what would be your recommendation for Mexican companies in terms of navigating the current challenges, which are not...
