Carolina Cruz revealed how she got into debt of more than 2000 million

Popular model and TV presenter Carolina Cruz has revealed that she faced a business challenge that led to her accumulating debts of P2.8 billion. Through her entrepreneurship in the field of beauty and fashion, the former queen learned lessons in business management and the importance of expert advice. This difficult path to financial recovery is shared on his podcast My world, my effects, my reality.

Program presenter day to day She began her modeling career at the age of 14 and quickly rose to prominence by winning the title of Vice National in the National Beauty Contest in 1999. This victory not only marked the beginning of her success on global catwalks, but also began her path in the business world.

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In 2013, she launched Carolina Cruz Empresaria, a company that combined several product lines, from jewelry to perfumes and homewares. However, the lack of experience in running the business of his brother, to whom he delegated management, and the lack of adequate advice, led to the company accumulating large debts.

“My family and I started a brand (…) and we never take advice (…) We started opening new stores, paying very high rents, and franchising without knowing what it was like. Another mistake I made was that I was withdrawing money every month so that companies could rely on my pocket, Cruz revealed.

Deciding to open franchises and pay expensive leases without in-depth knowledge of how to properly run a business turned out to be disastrous decisions. The situation became more complicated when Cruz had to meet the company's financial needs with her own money, which was considered a “fatal mistake,” as she put it.

The crisis came to a head when his brother informed him of an initial debt of 500 million pesos, which over time rose to 2.8 billion pesos. “I said, ‘What are you spending two billion pesos on?’ I didn’t know whether I would start crying, whether I would get angry, or whether I would run. (…) I started measuring that value and wondered where I was going to come from to pay that because one is not a millionaire, and I'm not a millionaire, and I've never been a millionaire (…) My mother also felt guilty because there were things she knew that she kept silent. “I blamed myself for being so relaxed about so many things,” the businesswoman said.

The resolution of this situation led the model to take direct control of her company, negotiate with the banks, and finally settle the debts within a period of two and a half years, at the expense of personal and family sacrifices. His relationship with his brother has been broken, and although the financial burden has been settled, the lessons learned still remain. “I told them, ‘I don’t have this money, I want you to help me,’ and with my manager and the person who became a little angel, he helped me get out of debt because I didn’t want to owe anything to anyone,” he said.

“Then I learned with a bang that they had gone to live in the United States and when I looked it turned out that the debt was 2.8 billion pesos (…) I was able to pay off the debt in two and a half years. I worked hard, like never before in my life, I lost a lot of valuable time with Matthias which today I am trying to get back. The Colombian added: “I love being with my children but I had to re-energize myself and do many things that no longer exist in my life.”