Enrique Riquelme: from Cox to the UN via Real Madrid | OneFootball

My friend Gero, an entrepreneur from Mura in Virgen del Camino (where Bishop Almarcha was also born) who, like most of his fellow townspeople, makes watches at night, once told me: “many times, by losing you win.” I remembered this wise rural saying when I saw Enrique Riquelme Vives seated in one of the UN rooms, having become internationally famous because he dared to challenge the all-powerful Florentino Pérez for the presidency of Real Madrid, although the name Riquelme had already been making strong waves in the most important business and financial circles since, in July 2023, at the age of 34, he signed in Seville the acquisition of the Autonomous Production Units of the Abengoa Group for 564 million euros.

And indeed, Enrique Riquelme, executive chairman and founder of the Cox Energy group—the same man who last June lost his showdown with Florentino—has surprised many with his appearance at one of the business meetings held in New York, within the framework of the 81st United Nations General Assembly. Before representatives of nearly 190 countries—no less—he called for cooperation and financing for infrastructure capable of sustaining water, digitalization, and industry. It is no small thing to be heard, at just 37 years old, in such a select group.

As part of the conference program, the president of Cox took part in the panel “Financing for a Just Energy Transition: Bi-regional Institutional Pathways. Driving Competitiveness and Resilient Growth,” co-organized by Ceapi (Business Council Alliance for Ibero-America) and the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme), where he shared the company’s vision on the challenges and opportunities of the energy transition in Latin America and the Caribbean. His father, the public face of the Empresas del Sol group, promoter of the remodeling of the Torrevieja port known as Puerta del Mar, sent me the program with justified pride.

I read in some media outlets that, throughout his speech, Enrique Riquelme stressed that "we are living through a global context of high uncertainty and volatility, and that these types of meetings are fundamental spaces for dialogue to create opportunities for regional cooperation in the face of an adverse global situation." He also added that this context "harms investment and the capacity of governments in areas as critical as energy and water, essential infrastructures for life, the economy, productivity, digitalization, industrialization, and social stability."

One of the main messages conveyed by the founder of Cox was the need to strengthen power grids to make an effective energy transition possible. In this regard, he stated that "the present and future of the energy transition depend on the existence of modern, flexible, and interconnected grids," stressing that the electrification of the economy, the expansion of data centers, artificial intelligence, and electric mobility will require significantly greater energy capacity and grid quality than current levels.

Riquelme’s institutional agenda in the United States was rounded out by his participation in several meetings devoted to strengthening relations between Europe and Latin America, as well as to the main economic, social, and energy challenges on a global scale. And this Friday, the president of Cox closed a conference focused on the challenges and opportunities of Ibero-America, reaffirming the company’s commitment to developing international alliances in strategic sectors such as energy, water, and infrastructure.

In 2018, Forbes magazine featured Riquelme on its cover as “The Solar Energy Man,” and that same year he received the National Young Entrepreneur Award, granted by the Spanish Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs

Enrique Riquelme Vives (Cox, January 9, 1989) is executive chairman of Grupo Cox, formed in 2024 through the integration of Cox Energy with Abengoa’s productive assets, a renewable energy company specializing in solar photovoltaic power. He began his career in companies owned by his family in the real estate and construction sectors. In 2010, he moved to Panama, where he created Grupo El Sol, focused on mining, cement, infrastructure, and energy. In 2012, he took part in the bidding and development phase of the Rainbow 50 project in Guatemala. In 2014, he founded Cox Energy, which years later would become Grupo Cox, the company he has chaired since that same year.

In July 2016, he acquired 12.85% of Ezentis’s capital and became its largest shareholder. In 2019, he created Cox Energy América to serve the Ibero-American market, a company that in 2020 became the first solar photovoltaic energy company to be listed on a Mexican stock exchange. In June of this year, 2026, he announced his candidacy in the election for the presidency of Real Madrid, winning 35% of the vote against Florentino Pérez, who was re-elected.

As for recognition, in 2018 Forbes magazine featured Riquelme on its cover as “The Solar Energy Man,” and that same year he received the National Young Entrepreneur Award granted by the Spanish Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs (Ceaje). In 2019, he was named one of the “100 most influential Latinos committed to climate action” by the organization Sachamama. In 2020, Forbes magazine chose him as one of the “100 most creative Spaniards in the business world.”

Moreover, Enrique Riquelme recently announced the intention to invest between 4 and 5 billion dollars in projects in Mexico over the coming years, as it is a "strategic" country for the energy and water company. At a press conference after the shareholders’ meeting, Riquelme said that part of that investment will go to the state of Nuevo León, where they have a significant group of clients, and highlighted that it is a country with great potential for growth in energy demand.

The current context of high uncertainty and volatility "harms investment and the capacity of governments in areas as critical as energy and water, essential infrastructures for life, the economy, productivity, digitalization, industrialization, and social stability"

He also explained that the group’s strategy, now renamed Cox Infrastructure Group, is water management, especially desalination, and energy, across the entire value chain. The markets it is focusing on are Mexico and Chile, and in Europe they will focus on Spain, where they want to become "an industrial benchmark and a source of job creation."

The company’s CEO, Nacho Moreno, who took on the role of executive director after the latest shareholders’ meeting, detailed that in Spain Cox is committed to projects to generate energy for data centers off-grid, and that they are also "looking at more projects to invest in, but always maintaining financial discipline."

He also reaffirmed Cox’s determination to move forward with its international expansion, although depending on the capital structure, and to grow in essential water and energy infrastructure assets while, in parallel, carrying out a process of divesting some assets. Asked about green hydrogen, Moreno ruled out investments because he believes it is currently not a price-competitive technology and, in his view, it still lacks maturity and public support.

Enrique Riquelme de la Torre, father of the young and successful businessman, once told me that his son was still too young to aspire to the presidency of the club he loves. But he did not hide his satisfaction at seeing his son’s upward trajectory and, above all, that business success was linked to the name of Cox, his hometown.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.