Diego Cisneros

Diego Jesús Jiménez de Cisneros y Bermúdez (September 27, 1911 – July 15, 1980) was a Cuban–born Venezuelan businessman. He founded Grupo Cisneros.

Cisneros was born in Havana, Cuba, to parents Diego Jiménez de Cisneros y Govantes, a Cuban dentist, and María Luisa Bermúdez Martínez, who was from Venezuela.

After his father's death in 1914, Cisneros and his mother and brother, Antonio José Cisneros, moved to Venezuela. They then moved to Port of Spain, Trinidad, where Cisneros' mother's family had relocated. While living in Trinidad, Cisneros attended primary and secondary school at Saint Mary's College, a school governed by the Roman Catholic Congregation of the Holy Ghost.

In 1928, Cisneros and his brother Antonio José Cisneros moved back to Venezuela.

In Caracas, Cisneros got a job at the Royal Bank of Canada because he was fluent in English. Shortly after getting that job, he began working at a dealership for Chrysler cars and International trucks.

In 1929, Cisneros and his brother founded D. Cisneros & Cia, a small material-transport business. The brothers then obtained a license to operate a bus route and transformed the dump truck business into a bus business. In time, the Cisneros brothers created a bus line made up of 400 buses.

In 1939, the Cisneros brothers sold the bus line. In 1939, D. Cisneros & Cia. began working with franchising rights in Venezuela, selling REO trucks, Hamilton Watch Company watches, and Norge appliances.

In 1940, the Cisneros brothers got the exclusive franchise to produce and sell Pepsi-Cola products in Venezuela. In 1944, D. Cisneros & Cia. founded Liquid Carbonic, a company that produced carbon dioxide and related products. In 1947, they became the exclusive representative for Studebaker cars in Venezuela.