Roberto Alcántara

Roberto Alcántara Rojas (born April 19, 1950 in Acambay, Mexico) is a Mexican entrepreneur and businessman, mainly dedicated to passenger transportation through land and air services. He is the chairman of the board of directors of Grupo IAMSA, one of the main passenger transportation consortiums in Mexico. He also has a 9.3% stake in the media conglomerate Grupo Prisa.

Biography Roberto Alcántara is the son of the politician and businessman Jesus Alcántara Miranda, who was mayor of Acambay, located in the State of Mexico and twice a federal congressman and senator. His grandfather, Manuel Alcántara, also served as senator and mayor in 1927 and, according to the chronicler Edgar Serrano, he brought electric light to the village.

Roberto Alcántara was an entrepreneur even during his childhood. With only 10 years old, he sold corn, lemonade and candies in the town market;

Alcántara studied high school at the Franco Spanish School in Mexico City. Subsequently, his father commissioned him the business of a nixtamal mill. He was successful and soon opened several tortillerias and even established a corn transport company. Nonetheless, at the age of 29, he joined the bus company founded by his father: Grupo Toluca.

In 1990, Grupo Toluca partnered with Grupo Flecha Amarilla, a transportation company started by the Herrera family and renowned Mexican entrepreneurs. Thanks to this union between the two main interstate bus operators in Mexico, the largest transport consortium in the country was created: Grupo IAMSA. Alcántara initially acted as an advisor in the company and together with his team he began diversifying the business by entering into the luxury land transportation sector with the ETN bus line.

The bank did not survive the financial crisis of 1994–1995 and the stock control was acquired by the Instituto para la Protección al Ahorro Bancario (IPAB), formerly known as the Fondo Bancario de Protección al Ahorro (Fobaproa). After reaching an agreement with the authorities, Bancrecer was finally given to the Mexican government in 1999. It has over 80 years of experience, operates in 24 states of the Mexican Republic and serves the major cities in the State of Texas and other cities on the East Coast of the United States. According to experts, it covers about 24% of the Mexican bus travelling market. Grupo IAMSA generates more than 24 thousand jobs and offers its services to more than 300 million passengers per year. Nowadays, Viva Aerobus offers more than 60 routes and in 2013 the airline announced the renewal of its fleet by purchasing 52 Airbus A320 aircraft, becoming the airline with the youngest fleet in Mexico. In addition, within the framework of the airline's tenth anniversary, Grupo IAMSA acquired a 100% stake in Viva Aerobus; it is now a fully Mexican company.

Following the success of Viva Aerobus, Grupo IAMSA and Irelandia launched the airline Viva Colombia in 2012. However, in December 2016, an agreement among the shareholders was established; it Irelandia to buy IAMSA's stake in the airline.

Roberto Alcántara´s businesses have diversified into several sectors. Since 2008, his company Omnitren, together with the Spanish company Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF), began operating Mexico City´s suburban train. and some PAN and PRD congressmen pointed out the existence of irregularities in this process, no official allegation was presented. Grupo PRISA currently operates in 22 countries and owns the newspaper El País, the publishers Santillana and Alfaguara, and in Mexico holds several radio stations together with Televisa and Radiorama like W Radio, Los 40 Principales and Ke Buena. Repeatedly named as one of the 100 most important entrepreneurs in Mexico by CNN-Expansión.