Stratos Cofounder And CEO “Tony” Salas says he believes that his startup is the most promising company in one of the most promising industries on the globe: ethanol production. This Peru native and former agronomist launched Stratos on the bold notion that he can grow sugarcane more efficiently than anywhere else on the planet. Then Stratos can penetrate the growing U.S. market, where skepticism already is rising about corn-based ethanol. “If someone looks at where to put their money on ethanol, and how to grow the business, they’ll look at Stratos,” says the 40-year-old Salas.
“We will be the most beautiful woman in the bar.” Salas received his undergraduate degree and MBA in the U.S. and was an international agronomy consultant before he joined the Peruvian government as undersecretary of agriculture in 2002.
Then he came up with the proposition for Stratos: Grow sugarcane on a desert strip on Peru’s Pacific coast, watering it with runoff from the Andes mountains. By creating farmland where there was none, the venture will be not only carbon neutral but actually carbon-positive.
Salas got financing and is building a distillery that should be in operation yet this year. Then Stratos will be greeting customers in the U.S. Salas was a national amateur tennis champion several times, most recently when he was 31 years old.
