It is a decision to adopt technology”

To gauge the potential, he added: “Today, approximately, the 13% of retail trade goes through e-commerce. In Brazil it is 18%. In the United States and Europe it is around 30%. In China above 50%. This means that in Argentina there is a very strong growth path ahead. And that is important because it represents “a lot of opportunity for SMEs.”

Radavero also spoke about the Tiendanube operation—a platform that allows entrepreneurs and SMEss create and manage your online store, with payments, shipping and channel integration—, which today brings together more than 65,000 brands in the country. “In the first semester we grew above 40% year-on-year; the month before the elections, 20%. That is the variable: the speed. Not if we grow or not. We always grow,” he described.

Radavero also integrates the Jury of Honor of the eighth edition of the SME Awardsthe initiative of Banco Galicia and Clarín that distinguishes the management, innovation and impact of small and medium-sized companies in Argentina.

The Honorary Jury of the 2025 edition of the SME Awards is made up of Hector Aranda (CEO of AGEA), Gaston Bourdieu (director of Banco Galicia), Ariel Urcola (director of Executive Education at UdeSA), Maria Julia Bearzi (CEO of Endeavor), Diego Fenoglio (founder of Rapanui) and Radavero himself.

The award is organized into four categories:

• Exporting SME: for companies that project their sales beyond Argentine borders.

• Digital Innovation SME: distinguishes those who transform their processes through technology.

• SME in Commercial Expansion: rewards organizations that manage to scale their business model.

• PYME Industrial: recognizes manufacturing companies that innovate and generate employment.

Among the winners of the four categories, the Honor Jury will choose the Gold SME Awardthe highest recognition. In addition, the SME Lifetime Achievement Award to highlight a firm with a consolidated track record in the sector.

All applicants are analyzed by a Academic Jury in charge of the University of Saint Andrew (UdeSA), which on November 16 will elect three finalist companies in each category.

November 27 will be the final instance: the 12 finalists must present their company’s case and answer the questions that the Jury of Honorwhich will choose the winner of each category, as well as the winner of the SME Gold award.

Both the presentation of the finalists and the award ceremony will be on the same day and will take place in the building Galicia Squarein the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Chacarita.

Radavero mentioned three points that, he said, today separate SMEs that grow from those that only sell:

• Sales channels resolved. “Depending on the sector and where the customer is, it could be their own store or a good presence on Internet portals. Sometimes it is both. But at least one of those avenues has to be active.”

• Integrated management. “The second point is the integration with management systems: stock, billing, ERP. Today it makes no sense for an SME to do processes by hand. The company has an online sale and then someone has to download the sales and generate invoices by hand. “All of that is inefficiency and resources are poorly used.”

• Permanent customer service. “The third point is attention. Today you can attend 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with the tone and voice of your brand, with accurate information and saving the data. At Tiendanube we have Chat Nube, which does all that. He is the best assistant you can have, because he is always there.”

The manager sought to clear up a common doubt: “I don’t see a dichotomy between technology and closeness to the customer. On the contrary: artificial intelligence serves to apply our time to what we It really matters.”

“Of 10 conversations, probably 8 are about price, stock, availability or how to buy. A robot can manage that just like you. And The two conversations that matter, like a complaint or an angry customer, you have to handle them and you have to handle them well. If the first 8 are done by a machine, you will better reach the two conversations that are really important. “That is better service.”

And he linked it to the reality of small firms: “We know that SMEs do not have time or resources to spare. Using a resource in a low-value activity that could be automated is a waste. That person could be thinking how to sell more or how to serve the customer better.”

Radavero warned that digitizing is not just about opening an online store: “It is not just about applying technology to the bit at the end of the chain that is online sales. You have to think with a technological mentality. When you apply technology to deposit of the company, the inventory begins to be rotated better, there is more control, breakages and expirations are reduced and with this data a better offer can be brought to the sales channels.”

For SMEs that aim abroad, he recommended moving forward in stages: “It is essential to choose the market well. Many companies go because the market seems big or because they have a cousin who can act as a distributor. You have to choose the market according to the ability to adapt the product to the consumer of that market. I think that a founder or a manager has to be located in the export destination for a period of timeeven if they are nearby markets like Uruguay or Paraguay. You have to decode the cultural detail that can change the success or failure of the project,” he noted.

Regarding the evaluation criteria that he applies as a jury for the SME Awards, Radavero explained: “I look for that mentality of growth, curiosity and learning. I believe in data, in decision making with data. I want to see teams very aware of what they are going to measure and how they are going to measure it. I am not convinced by the five-year flow projection where everything goes well; those Excel always work well. “I want a logical path, with clear hypotheses and with explicit risks.”