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Outsource for Growth

First Clients, First Believers: How Bold Ideas Launched a Decade of Purpose

  • Writer: Antonio Duarte
    Antonio Duarte
  • Nov 14, 2025
  • 3 min read

Updated: Nov 19, 2025

Featuring Abarca, Centro Casas, and Señor Paleta

By Antonio Duarte


DuartePino’s first decade was built on trust. Before we had a name in the Puerto Rico market, our first clients believed in a bold idea: a new way of doing marketing through strategic outsourcing and fractional CMO support.


Group photo of DuartePino and Abarca Health team members smiling at the camera during an in-office event. Some individuals wear purple “PBM AWESOME” t-shirts, while others wear business or branded attire. The purple Abarca logo appears in the background. The image is framed with DuartePino’s 10th anniversary branding and the “10DP” logo in the corner.

Our First Clients: Building Trust from the Start

Every company has a starting point. Ours wasn’t a product or a pitch deck—it was a few bold leaders who believed in a different way of doing business. Before DuartePino had a name in the market, we had something far more valuable: trust. Trust from our very first clients.


Centro Casas logo with bold pink and gray typography, next to a geometric icon featuring a house symbol inside overlapping square frames. The layout is set on a white background with an orange gradient border and curved white lines. Bottom right corner displays “A Decade of Doing It Differently” with DuartePino’s 10-year emblem.

Centro Casas: Modernizing Real Estate Marketing

Centro Casas was where marketing outsourcing took root—starting with a personal connection and evolving into a strategic transformation. Founded by Belkys Pino, Centro Casas was already a trusted name in real estate. But as the next generation took on the challenge of modernization, we were asked to bring clarity, discipline, and growth thinking to the table. From rebranding to relaunching La Subasta and Centro Subastas, we helped digitize the business and reposition it for the future—proving that even legacy firms can scale smarter with the right strategy in place.


Abarca Health logo on a white background, featuring a purple triangle in place of the central “A”. The slide is framed with an orange gradient and abstract white contour lines. Bottom right corner includes the message “A Decade of Doing It Differently” and the DuartePino 10-year anniversary logo.

Abarca Health: Redefining Healthcare Strategy

Abarca Health wasn’t just an early engagement—it was a launchpad. Jason Borschow invited us in at a time when the company was redefining pharmacy benefit management. But this wasn’t fractional marketing support. This involved a comprehensive strategic integration, encompassing full BPO for marketing, corporate communications, and brand strategy. We sat at the leadership table, helping to design the go-to-market strategy, defining the brand’s core values, and building a marketing function that worked in tandem with operations, rather than in isolation. That partnership didn’t just validate our model—it shaped it.


Señor Paleta logo featuring an illustrated popsicle character with a black beret, a red heart in the center, and red diagonal stripes. The design sits on a white background with an orange gradient border and white flowing lines. Bottom right includes the message “A Decade of Doing It Differently” and DuartePino’s 10-year mark.

Señor Paleta: Scaling a Local Brand Nationally

Then came Señor Paleta, a startup with flavor, ambition, and a cult following. With limited internal capacity but big aspirations, they needed a team that could guide their growth without the overhead of a whole department. We became their outsourced marketing engine—driving brand development, sales enablement, and the storytelling that helped turn local love into national momentum. Working with its visionary founders showed us the potential of fractional CMO support for emerging brands.


The Shared Thread: Trust & Boldness

These first three clients couldn’t have been more different—one in healthcare innovation, one in real estate, and one in artisan food, but they all had one thing in common:


  • They embraced a model where strategy came first

  • They embraced collaboration at the deepest level.

  • They saw marketing not as an afterthought, but as a growth accelerator.


These clients permitted DuartePino to exist. Their belief launched not just campaigns—but a decade of purpose.


In many ways, they permitted DuartePino to exist. And in doing so, they helped us shape the future we’ve built ever since.


A Decade of Doing It Differently

To Belkys, Jason, Ramón, and Jennifer—gracias. Your trust launched more than campaigns. It launched a decade of purpose.


Built over time. Backed by trust. Driven by purpose.


Let’s build the next decade of bold ideas together. www.duartepino.com


About the Author:

Antonio Duarte, Chief Marketing Advisor for DuartePino and partner of Téntico and Haipriori, wrote this blog. 


ABOUT DUARTEPINO

DuartePino is a management outsourcing firm that combines deep customer knowledge with practical expertise in marketing, communications, and brand management to drive sustainable growth for clients. Our network of Trusted Advisors brings years of experience, offering fresh perspectives, proven processes, and the martech tools needed for effective execution.


In addition to our core services, we have expanded through our ventures, Téntico—a strategy-first brand studio focused on authentic branding for legacy brands and scale-ups—and Haipriori, specializing in custom software solutions and digital innovation. We manage over 15 marketing communications departments, representing over $1B in annual sales, with 70% of clients exporting to international markets.

 
 
 

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