MBA Candidates At The University Of San Francisco Strengthen Bonds With Chilean Startups

Online, January 17, 2011 (Newswire.com) - The group of 12 students, and their professor, Carlos S. Baradello, met with the 3IE executives Rene Villegas and Miguel Rebolledo, who explained how the Institute has worked for more than 10 years in the promotion of Chilean entrepreneurship and innovation, achieving successful results with their incubated companies, investors and partners.

In the framework of the Academic Global Immersion MBA program of the University of San Francisco, students have the opportunity of getting to know international business practices, on this occasion visiting global Latin American services companies who have as their mission export and compete in international markets.

On that score, 3IE and the Universidad Santa María support a global business view in their incubated companies, planning expand in such competitive economies as European, American and Asiatic.

For Carlos S. Baradello, this is a practical way of learning the way of doing business in Chile, Argentina and Uruguay from a cultural, legal, political, economic and social point of view. "The students are out in the field analyzing whether Latin America can compete in a global scenario and identifying South American companies who have an ambition of climbing up", say the Professor.

At the same time, the Latin American companies have the opportunity to agree to a consultancy given by the MBA candidates, as the program includes working with entrepreneurs of emerging countries for a period of four to six months, preparing them to commit themselves to the future.

Regarding the local reality, Baradello expressed he felt pleased with the national progress in innovation and entrepreneurship, "I am surprised to see how constantly Chile is improving and professionalizing. It is growing and boosting the incubation industry, venture capital, companies acceleration and globalization."

However, for this growth to continue on a larger scale, the expert adds that "apart from the financing, it is necessary that entrepreneurs with courage and nerve don't limit their visions to neighboring countries and only think about Argentina or Peru. They should be encouraged to try to reach sophisticated markets such as Germany, Canada, America or Japan."

To compete with these countries it is essential to raise the professional quality, learn other languages and costumes, and to continually find benefits and get ahead, even in those cases that the company does not reach a commercial agreement.

Meanwhile, to Jill Weiner, the organizer of the visit and MBA candidate at the University of San Francisco, "the incubation system and the work of the 3IE Institute looks very interesting, and it is a great way for an idea could turn into a real business. The industry seems vibrant and growing, and we could see some success stories of companies who are doing great business.

The delegation also met with Aníbal Valencia, Gled general manager and recent winner of the Chilean Contest Scouting Digital Sub 35, an award that will see him on a business trip to Korea, where he will get to know the Asian industry. The prominent entrepreneur presented IVEO, a software development platform for Augmented Reality which allows overlaying 3D animated models over real-world image and video, and which can also integrate technologies like Movement Detection and Head Tracking.

The University of San Francisco School of Business and Professional Studies also has an agreement with the Master of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Management program (MITE) of the Universidad Santa María Concepción campus, the students of which annually make a trip to Silicon Valley in order to identify international initiatives in the area of innovation and entrepreneurship and his suitable transference to a local level.

Professor Carlos S. Baradello, PhD teaches at the School of Business and Management of the University of San Francisco and is Managing Director & CTO of Iter Domus Inc., serving as executive advisor to global corporations and governmental and non-governmental foreign development agencies.

The MBA candidates visited the Chilean cities of Valparaíso and Santiago, and continued their journey in Argentina and Uruguay.