22 August, 2016

The Ambassador

His Excellency ELNIO MANUEL DURÁN is a prominent Dominican agribusiness expert. With his agricultural production and business venture, he has been key to increasing exports from the Dominican Republic, including the United Kingdom.

Ambassador Durán received his B.S. degree from Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra (PUCMM) in the Dominican Republic and his M.Sc. degree from Texas A&M, University in the United States of America.

Ambassador Durán is a Vice President of Grupo Banamiel SAS, as well as a member of its Board of Directors. Grupo Banamiel is a banana export company, that exports to Europe and the United States. He also is the President of Don Gabin Project, an agricultural and livestock production company with an extension of 220 hectares, as well as the President of Durafil SRL, an agrochemical distribution company in the Dominican Republic.

For his outstanding performance and his support to the agricultural and livestock sector in his home country, the Dominican Republic, in 2017 he was awarded the Honour Medal from the Agricultural and Livestock Producers Association, Inc.

His focus to contribute to the development of the agricultural and livestock sector in the Dominican Republic was not limited to his private production and business ventures. He has also supported various organizations and entities. From 2014 to 2016, he served as the President of the Association of Dominican Banana Producers (ADOBANANO). From 2012 to 2014, he was the Banana Advisor to the President of the Dominican Republic. From 1997 to 2010, he was the General Manager of the Filpo Almonte Society. From 1993 to 1997 he was the Operations Manager of Plantaciones del Norte, Grupo SID, where he developed and introduced new technologies in the production of bananas for the export market. In this position, he also carried out market research for bananas for the European and the U.S. markets.

In 1993, he also was the National Marketing Manager for the Swiss multinational company Ciba-Geigy. Previous to that, he worked for five years as a National Production Superintendent for ALGODOM/Grupo SID, the major cotton production company in the Dominican Republic from 1985 to 1990.

In addition to his outstanding experience mentioned above, he used his training in agricultural technology to introduce for the first time in the Northwest Dominican Republic pressurized irrigation systems (drip and sprinkler). These technologically advanced systems have a great impact on making irrigation and fertilisation more efficient, making farmers more competitive.