EMBA International Trip to South America: Travel Journal, Day 6

2010 Travel Journal » Day 6 - September 9

We’re back to briefings again today. We started the morning at our hotel in the Roble Meeting Room. First up was a session with the U.S. Commercial Service in Chile. The Commercial Service is the trade arm of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration. Their presence in over 80 countries helps U.S. companies get started in exporting or increase sales to new global markets. The main thing the Class of 2010 learned during this session was that while Chileans are very good workers they are, for the most part, not risk takers when it comes to business.

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The third morning briefing was with Endeavor Chile, a non-profit organization that started in 1997 to support and promote entrepreneurs in emergent countries. They initiated operations in Chile in 1998, and exist one level above micro financing. They offer start-up capital to businesses looking to borrow anywhere from $100,00.00 to $20,000,000.00. Arnette Krohn, originally from Sweden, now lives in Santiago and works with Endeavor Chile. From her presentation it was easy to tell that she is passionate about what she does.

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The briefing after lunch was at Banco Santander. It is a top banking group in Latin America, where it has operations in about 15 countries. Through other units, Banco Santander offers asset management, private banking, corporate and investment banking, and insurance. All told, the company has some 90 million customers and more than 13,500 locations in more than 40 countries. We learned how they set interest rates and that they are currently moving to more online banking services.

Carlton, a member of the Class of 2010, wrote the following-

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"Today is Thursday, September 9, 2010 and it's the 6th day that I have been in the city of Santiago, Chile. This is my first time being out of the country and to visit such a magnificent city is truly the best way to have a first experience. Growing up Ehtete, Wyoming on the Wind River Indian Reservation I never thought I would be able to experience traveling internationally, not to mention being apart of this Executive MBA class. Of the experiences I have had thus far into the trip, is the best one is from the confidence I gained in orchestrating a meeting in Chile to learn about the processes of a different, yet similar organization to mine back home. The people I met and the information they shared was very helpful and I really do appreciate their taking the time out of their busy schedules to accommodate my colleague and me. My goal upon returning home to my Northern Arapaho people is to attempt to apply some of the practices I learned on my visit to the practices in my organization. This, of course, will truly be a challenge. However, that does not mean that I will not try and I am very hopeful that I can apply my learning experiences to the practices at home on the reservation. Again, I am truly fortunate to have this opportunity and I am very happy that I chose to be apart of this group of awesome, amazing, wonderful people to share in these exciting experiences in Santiago, Chile."We then boarded a coach to go to lunch at El Parrón Restaurant, a traditional Chilean restaurant. The large dining room we ate in was festooned with red, white and blue. Chile is going to celebrate their Bicentennial of Independence on September 18th, and everywhere you look there are Chilean flags or red, white and blue streamers. It’s very obvious that the citizens of this country are patriotic and proud of their rich heritage.The next briefing was with Patricio Jaras, one of the founding partners of NutraBien Foods S.A.. Patricio is a Chilean who is willing to take business risks. This company started in the kitchen of Patricio’s sister, Isabella Jaras, when her husband was a student at M.I.T.. Isabella cooked and sold muffins to university cafeterias in Boston. In 1986, back in Chile, she continued her baking routine, still distributing her cakes to university cafeterias. Several years later Isabella and her sister-in-law developed a brownie, and this product caused a sensation among their clients. They named the company NutraBien to accompany the delicacies they were cooking. In 1992 Patricio, her younger brother who lived in the U.S.A., decided to return to Chile. After several years working for Colgate Palmolive, Patricio saw the great future awaiting the business his sister had started, and he offered to become a partner. Patricio worked out a strategy of growth and investment to which Isabella rapidly had to adjust her production. It was one thing to make 1,000 cakes, but it was quite a different matter to cook 100,000. Soon a small factory was born in the back yard of the great big family house. Eight years later NutraBien is a company of undeniable prestige and preference in the market. Its products are distributed from Arica to Punta Arenas, and it has a state-of-the-art factory designed and built according to European standards.