In Miami, innovation is all around us. And as one founder learned, innovation can even be found poolside.
Meet Chilean entrepreneur Susana Sierra, who is on a mission to combat corruption at scale. Sierra is the CEO of BH Compliance, a firm that monitors and measures compliance programs for companies. Globally, corruption remains a major issue. It’s also an expensive one, costing the world economy around $3.6 trillion every year.
Since its founding in 2011, Sierra and BH Compliance has helped businesses throughout Latin America reduce compliance risk. In 2017, the company created a platform to help companies visualize their key compliance indicators.
In December 2021, Sierra moved to Miami to further expand BH Compliance’s business. For years, Sierra has been interested in blockchain technology and curious about using it as another tool in her corruption-fighting arsenal. “But in Chile, I never came across anyone with the blockchain know-how to make it happen,” she told Refresh Miami.
That all changed one day while she was with her daughter at the pool in her Miami condo. As her daughter made friends with another child at the pool, Sierra began talking with that child’s parents. Turns out she was talking to a blockchain expert.
“He told me, ‘oh, this is really easy,” she recalled. The lightbulb had gone off, and a new chapter of BH Compliance was born.
Sierra and team quickly began working on the blockchain element of their platform. Since the data they collect is sensitive – detailing companies’ business practices – BH Compliance keeps the core of the information safe on their servers. But the blockchain creates a sort of fingerprint for each document. Think of it as a digital way to seal a folder. That way, auditors can prove whether this information has been tampered with.
There are a wide range of benefits for the blockchain-powered platform, explained Sierra. “If something happens to the company, then they can prove that they were doing everything correctly. All that evidence is stored in the blockchain.” In worst case scenarios, this constitutes a priceless insurance policy. Equally, it promotes ethical business practices while also providing cost savings to the companies by streamlining compliance procedures.
BH Compliance already has 150 companies using this platform, including major brands like Walmart Chile, GM Financial, and Telefonica. “When we told our clients that we were using the blockchain, we got a good response,” Sierra said. “They see the value in our innovative use of this technology.” She also signaled that BH Compliance plans to integrate artificial intelligence to further offer value to customers.
BH Compliance is just one outlet for Sierra to accomplish this mission. She has been recognized as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and participates in a few organizations promoting ethical governance, while also co-authoring a book decrying common bad practices in the Latin American business world.
Miami continues to play a key role in BH Compliance’s development. While the company still has the majority of their 20-person team in Chile, Sierra has plans to hire more technical talent in the US.
BH Compliance also recently completed Endeavor Miami’s ScaleUp Program. “I was very lucky to be part of this program and the Endeavor community,” asserted Sierra.
