Nizan Guanaes, the boss of Brazil’s biggest marketing services organisation Grupo ABC, has been listed in GQ Brasil’s annual ‘Men of the Year’ feature as winner in the leadership category.

Grupo ABC founder and partner Guanaes, who in October spoke at the Festival of Media LatAm event in Miami, joined luminaries such as professional surfer Gabriel Medina and photographer Sebastião Salgado in featuring on his own cover of the Globo Condé Nast-owned magazine.

In a video interview with GQ Brasil, Guanaes said: “I’m very happy to have won this prize because I love this magazine.

“I think leadership is one of my qualities and it was an important one in 2014, because it was a very challenging year, as the World Cup presented as much of an opportunity as a risk. I believe life is about leadership and that’s how I built Grupo ABC up to be a business employing 2,600 people.”

Speaking to C Squared chairman and editor-in-chief Charlie Crowe at Festival of Media LatAm earlier this year, Guanaes ‘launched a staunch defensive of the country’s “highly sophisticated” media market.

He also denied the dominance of local conglomerate Globo is hindering the modernisation of media in the country.

“Globo is a very dominant strength in Brazil, yes, but we have an internet presence which is larger than most of the countries in the world,” said Guanaes.

“We are one of the most modern markets – in penetration of news, we are number three globally. Brazil is a highly sophisticated market in media.”