Years later, while studying engineering, Betancourt decided to follow in his father's footsteps and founded his own concrete company: BConcreto. But in its early years, the company faced a major challenge — hyperinflation.

Hyperinflation was a period of severe economic instability in Brazil during the 1980s, marked by rapidly rising prices and unpredictable daily fluctuations. Despite the difficulties, Betancourt says the experience brought valuable lessons.

“It was like a school for me because I had to sell. I thought I knew São Paulo, but I really didn’t. So I would take the Guia 4 Rodas and map out the routes to each job site or company,” he says.

During this time, Betancourt says he learned not only about business, but also about people and the weight of responsibility.
“It was a tough start. I worked all day and went to college at night. I’d stay up all night studying and face exams on pure willpower,” he recalls.

After enduring some setbacks, Betancourt had to sell his concrete company. He spent a period working in the insurance industry before one of his four brothers invited him to join BCorp — the family’s real estate business.

“One day, the folks from Colliers came to Brazil looking for a company that wasn’t tied to a major group. They began conversations with some of the key players in the market,” he says.

By that time, Betancourt’s father had already moved on from the concrete business to real estate development, especially offices in the Chácara Santo Antônio district.

“We used to compete a lot with Birmann, who had a partnership — still going strong today — with CBRE, which back then was called Richard Ellis. My father, on the other hand, used BCorp for his business ventures — it was my brother’s company, and I worked there too. Colliers heard about us, interviewed my brother, and liked what they saw. A while later, he flew to Toronto, closed the deal, and in 1998 we became Colliers Brazil,” Betancourt recalls.

• Read more: Career, Crisis, Construction: The Journey of Delmazo — From Odebrecht and WTorre to Founding Zolver 

Betancourt describes his career as a conservative one — he has risen to the top of a company where he’s worked for more than 30 years. On one hand, he stands on solid corporate ground; on the other, he sets sail on open waters. Beyond Colliers, his true passion is sailing.

How did it all begin? “I have two sons — the older one loves sports, but the younger one not so much. One day, a friend suggested I take the younger one sailing. So we signed up for a course together — but in the end, I enjoyed it even more than he did,” he says, smiling.

Following in the footsteps of great adventurers, Betancourt was drawn to the sense of freedom, the strategy, and the blue horizon. For him, sailing requires planning, study, and focus — it’s about charting new paths and discovering new horizons.

“At least once a year, I try to take a sailing trip abroad. I’ve been many times to the Caribbean, Greece, Croatia, and Italy. For me, it’s not just about the time I spend on the boat — the entire planning process is fun. I’m that meticulous guy who buys the nautical chart and maps out every stop I want to make and every place I want to visit,” he says.

Between the trips he’s already taken and his dream of sailing to Antarctica, Betancourt splits his time between corporate life and the open sea. He believes the two worlds complement each other: sailing teaches lessons that apply to business — and the corporate world offers insights that carry over into sailing.

He has faced challenges in both environments, weathered storms in business and at sea, and experienced both calm waters and turbulent waves.

“Ricardo, what’s harder: sailing a boat or running a company?”

He doesn’t hesitate: “Running a company. I think it’s harder because, at Colliers, we’re 300 people — and people aren’t easy. Generations are different, and how you deal with each one has to evolve. A boat, on the other hand, is much simpler to manage,” he concludes.