What it takes to get an MBA [infographic]

++ Click to Enlarge Image ++
Taken from http://holykaw.alltop.com/what-it-takes-to-get-an-mba-infographic?tu3=1

Via: Masters Degree Guide

Ask a Leader 2011 - Felipe Vergara

Felipe Vergara is the CEO of Lumni, one of the Endeavor Colombia companies and also an AShoka Fellow. Felipe was recently awarded as THE SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS OF THE YEAR 2011 - LATIN AMERICA by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship.

Through my role at Endeavor Colombia, I had had the pleasure to meet Felipe and his team, mainly in the Colombia office, and Lumni has no doubt been a source of inspiration as a person and as a potential entrepreneur (Felipe is also from my home city, Barranquilla, so that makes the role modelling effect even more special).

Felipe has also been a supporter of my MBA cause :-) ... besides all the cheering when I took the decision and in all my GMAT "calvary", his short lines every now and then were key to keep going. In absence of resources to pay for an admissions consultant as many people do, I`ve leveraged on key entrepreneurs from the Endeavor Colombia network such as Felipe to help me facing different levels of the admimission process. Felipe for instance mocked my BABSON interview and it was fantastic to get his feedback, it was no doubt very useful and I`ll never forget how such a busy person took time on a weekend to sit down with me over Skype to help me on this. Last but not least Felipe has recently acted as one of my recommenders for a OAS Scholarship also to fund the MBA at BABSON, scholarship where I`m already in the last round of 8 finalists (out of more than 140) in Colombia.

Maybe on of the coolest experiences with Lumni has been the one when they opened the door to me to deliver a trainning on "Communications" for a group of students of one of its funds: VENTANAS. The story is very funny, originally Lumni requested me as its Endeavor Key Account Manager to get one of our (very senior) Entrepreneur Mentors to deliver this trainning. For some reasons, the Mentors we approached were not available at this date and I simply volunteered myself to do it with the surprise that they accepted. Here are some pictures of that day.

Something that not many people know, is that by that time I was also in the process to open my "already closed" restaurant Sizzlers (we opened from Jan 2010 to Dec 2011), in Bogota. I remember that I hired two guys that I met at this training that were studying culinary with support of Lumni. The two students worked couple of weeks with me to help us gather key information for the business plan of the restaurant. We did not work longer since in the end we came to the conclusion that their time was very limited (actually one of them worked at the Lumni Colombia office as well).

I really hope to keep in touch with Felipe and his incredible model despite my incoming move from Endeavor! And thanks again for everything!

The doors from hell and heaven

The Zen master Hakuin is one of the rare flowerings. A warrior came to him, a samurai, a great soldier, and he asked "Is there any hell, is there any heaven? If there is hell and heaven, where are the gates? Where do I enter from? How can I avoid hell and choose heaven?"

He was a simple warrior. A warrior is always simple; otherwise he cannot be a warrior. A warrior knows only two things, life and death--his life is always at stake, he is always gambling; He is a simple man. He had not come to learn any doctrine. He wanted to know where the gate was so he could avoid hell and enter heaven. And Hakuin replied in a way only a warrior could understand.

What did Hakuin do? He said, "Who are you?"
And the warrior replied, "I am a samurai."

It is a thing of much pride to be a samurai in Japan. It means being a perfect warrior, a man who will not hesitate a single moment to give his life. For him, life and death are just a game. He said, "I am a samurai, I am a leader of samurais. Even the emperor pays respect to me."

Hakuin laughed and said, " You, a samurai? You look like a beggar."

The samurai's pride was hurt, his ego hammered. He forgot what he had come for. He took out his sword and was just about to kill Hakuin. He forgot that he had come to this master to ask where is the gate of heaven, to ask where is the gate of hell.

Hakuin laughed and said, "This is the gate of hell. With this sword, this anger, this ego, here opens the gate." This is what a warrior can understand. Immediately he understood: This is the gate. He put his sword back in its sheath.

And Hakuin said, "Here opens the gate of heaven."

Hell and heaven are within you, both gates are within you. When you are behaving unconsciously there is the gate of hell; when you become alert and conscious, there is the gate of heaven. 

SPANISH VERSION ...

Un guerrero samurai, fue a ver al Maestro Zen Hakuin y le preguntó:

"¿Existe el infierno? ¿Existe el cielo?
¿Dónde están las puertas que llevan a ellos?
¿Por dónde puedo entrar?

Era un guerrero sencillo. Los guerreros siempre son sencillos, sin astucia en sus mentes, sin matemáticas. Sólo conocen dos cosas: La vida y la muerte. Él no había venido a aprender ninguna doctrina; solo quería saber dónde estaban las puertas, para poder evitar el infierno y entrar en el cielo. Hauikin le respondió de una manera que sólo un guerrero podía haber entendido.

¿Quién eres?", le preguntó Hakuin.

"Soy un samurai, le respondió el guerrero, hasta el emperador me respeta".

Hakuin se rió y contestó "¿Un Samurai, tú? Pareces un mendigo".

El orgullo del samurai se sintió herido y olvidó para que había venido. Sacó su espada y ya estaba a punto de matar a Hakuin cuando éste dijo:

"Esta es la puerta del infierno. Esta espada, esta ira, este ego, te abren la puerta".

Esto es lo que un guerrero puede comprender. Inmediatamente el samurai entendió. Puso de nuevo la espada en su cinto, conmovido, se inclinó con humildad y con voz honesta y profunda dijo:

-Maestro, muchas gracias, tus palabras tocaron mi alma. La rabia, el miedo y la arrogancia son mi infierno.

El maestro lo miró fijamente y le dijo:

"Aquí se abren las puertas del cielo."

No son las palabras de los otros las que te envían al cielo o al infierno, es el significado que les das.

Las palabras pueden contener emociones, pero tú decides si las aceptas y cuanta importancia tienen para ti.

Cuando eliges la rabia, la arrogancia o el miedo, estas escogiendo el dolor, el juicio y el aislamiento, tanto para ti como para quienes te rodean.

Nuestros maestros y nuestras lecciones se encuentran con frecuencia en las personas o situaciones más inesperadas.

La persona más difícil o la situación más adversa pueden ser los maestros que te recuerden que en este instante puedes elegir estar en el cielo o en el infierno.

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Babson students and entrepreneurship on the World Stage

Talking Metrics: Is Standardization a Dream? | Blog | NextBillion.net | Development through Enterprise

Talking Metrics: Is Standardization a Dream? | Blog | NextBillion.net | Development through Enterprise

One of the most inspiring thoughts ever

There are moments in time when we realize the untapped potential of those with whom we come in contact. Tapping their potential often releases our own.


Taken from The “Bad Boy” Poet 
http://www.rdiconnect.com/blogs/rdi-community/archive/2011/02/28/competence-the-antidote-for-everything-the-quot-bad-boy-quot-poet-by-rachelle-sheely-phd.aspx

Documentray on IIT on an American TV Channel. MUST SEE FOR ALL IITIANS.avi

Thanks to a current BABSON MBA student I got access to this VERY REVEALING, SHORT video about IIT grads and IIT (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Institutes_of_Technology)

As a colombian who has lived in India, with very special indian friends, and passionate for not only education but also for the capacity to understand our own passions and turn them into dreams, I can`t deny that this video was a perfect food for thought. Specially last weekend we were talking with my husband about this ...

I won`t generate much personal opinion right now, I`ll rather want to share the video and key highlights that called my attention:

"IIT grads are INDIA`s most valuable export"
"Exam to get in is so hard, that school kids for the two last years of high school go to prep classes from 4 to 8 a.m."
"A good % of IIT grads become Entrepreneurs: students say it`s a matter of CONFIDENCE"
"The year (all costs) costs 700 USD - it`s subsidized by the government"
"The 2nd option or B Plans for some students who apply to IIT is a US IB league university, - and if they get in, they get scholarships"
"2/3 of grads go to the US"
"For India, rather than a problem, the previous fact is a stimulus to work harder to make them come back"


The air to me right now smells like discipline, excellence, resilience ... it`s just inspiring. I know this is not a black or white topic, I know that controversy is also in the air. I know there are deeper analysis to be done. Yet, what an example for countries like mine.

I promise i`ll write more.

I´m just saying "Favor the High Potentials"

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As a response to my last post I got few interesting comments. Thanks for that! Rather than replying I would like to share a section out of the amazing HOW TO START AN ENTREPRENEURIAL REVOLUTION of Prof. Dan Isenberg (If you want to read it fully, buy a copy from the HBR site!). Daniel J. Isenberg  is a professor of management practice at Babson College and executive
director of the Babson Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Project.

I maybe did not express myself as flawless as Prof. Isenberg, but what´s below is exactly what I meant. The full article is very, very recommended.

4: Favor the High Potentials.

Many programs
in emerging economies spread scarce
resources among quantities of bottom-of-thepyramid
ventures. And indeed, some of them,
such as the Carvajal Foundation in Cali, Colombia,
have dramatically increased income for segments
of the population. But focusing resources
there to the exclusion of high-potential
ventures is a crucial mistake.
In an era when microfinance for small-scale
entrepreneurs has become mainstream, the reallocation
of resources to support high-potential
entrepreneurs may seem elitist and inequitable.
But especially if resources are limited, programs
should try to focus first on ambitious, growthoriented
entrepreneurs who address large potential
markets.
The social economics of high-potential ventures
and small-scale employment alternatives
are significantly different. Whereas 500
microfinanced sole proprietorships and one
rapidly globalizing 500-person operation create
the same number of jobs, many experts
argue that the wealth creation, power to inspire
other start-ups, labor force enrichment,
and reputational value are much greater with
the latter. One organization that recognizes
this is Enterprise Ireland, an agency responsible
for supporting the growth of world-class
Irish companies. It has created a program specifically
to provide mentoring and financial
assistance to high-potential start-ups, which it
defines as ventures that are export-oriented,
are based on innovative technology, and can
generate at least 1 million in sales and 10 jobs
in three years. The global nonprofit Endeavor,
which focuses on entrepreneurship development
in 10 emerging economies, has to date
“adopted” some 440 “high-impact entrepreneurs,”
who, with Endeavor’s mentoring, are
turning their successes into role models for
their countrymen.
Not all high-potential ventures are technology
based; in fact, I’d argue that the majority
are not. SABIS is a perfect example. An educational
management organization founded in Lebanon many years ago as one school, SABIS
now is one of the world’s largest EMOs, teaching
more than 65,000 students in 15 countries,
with the goal of reaching 5 million students by
2020.

Are the Poor Really Entrepreneurial?

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Interesting article I got from http://www.nextbillion.net  
[Exploring the connection between development and enterprise through blogs and analysis]

Are the Poor Really Entrepreneurial?
 http://www.nextbillion.net/blog/2009/02/11/are-the-poor-really-entrepreneurial 
Key highlights from the author ...

• "It's just wrong to assume that the majority of those living at the BoP are entrepreneurial. Recently, I spoke to a friend who is working on a BoP project that seeks to help the poor start microenterprises.  The project selects a handful of people from a poor community and puts them through an entrepreneurship training program.  I asked her what was one of the biggest challenges of the project.  She responded, "That we're trying to train a lot of people to be entrepreneurial who are simply not."
• "I think that one of the best things that we from the developed world can do for the poor is to help cultivate an entrepreneurial environment for them.  One such group that is trying to do this is TechnoServe."
• "I think more resources should be spent towards building this entrepreneurial environment in poor communities. Some people will create new ventures.  The majority will not.  And that's okay"

What do I think?

 I do believe that "entrepreneurial genes" can be found anywhere, even in the most "hostile" contexts. It might look exaggerated to build the following analogy, but to me affirming that entrepreneurial individuals are easier to be found in X or Y environment is like saying that "women" or "men" are easier to be found  in X or Y environments. People with "entrepreneurial genes" are just born everyday, everywhere, the same way as are humans with "female/male sex chromosomes" are born everyday and despite the environment they happen grow in, they never lose their natural gender.  I am not trying to do a scientific dissertation on "entrepreneurial genes" because I have clearly no knowledge or evidence to support that (although there are studies like the ones of Scott A. Shane author of Born Entrepreneurs, Born Leaders: How Your Genes Affect Your Work show that), but if the question that is being asked to me is "Are the poor entrepreneurial?", in my mind it´s  like asking "Are human beings  entrepreneurial?"

HOWEVER, I do believe that ENTREPRENEURS, specially HIGH IMPACT ENTREPRENEURS, can´t  be found anywhere. 

We - people that are part of the HIGH IMPACT ENTREPRENEURSHIP MOVEMENT -  tend to be very firm in positions such as: 1) Self-employment does not equal entrepreneurship, 2) Subsistence Entrepreneurship and Opportunity Entrepreneurship are two completely different worlds and 3) Even Opportunity Entrepreneurship is not enough: we need high potential ventures and to be more specific, high impact ones.  The conviction of such affirmations do not really intend to treat "non high-impact entrepreneurship" as  a "second class - or -  not worth to take care of entrepreneurship", as few friends have told me. Yet this awareness is a powerful input to answer such questions as "Are the poor entrepreneurial?", which in the context of this reflection I will rephrase as:  "Are there more Entrepreneurs in the BoP, and which kind of?"

Coming from a country like Colombia I feel comfortable saying that poverty is in some cases a legitimate engine of entrepreneurship, and to be more exact, of SUBSISTENCE entrepreneurship. What concerns me more, rather than the fact that majority of the entrepreneurs/endeavors that flourish in the  low income environments are subsistence ones, is the fact that many of those subsistence entrepreneurs don´t  realize (or even care of realizing) that there are other kinds of entrepreneurship that their "entrepreneurial genes" could serve, and that through those other levels of entrepreneurship a bigger impact in the world can be made.  And in the end of the day, it´s too complex to expect and induce them to realize that. Thinking big is one of the most complicated things.

In this context, I find one of the the GEM´s 2010 conclusions extremely wise:  "In terms of Entrepreneurship, Facilitate Necessity (=subsistence), Encourage Opportunity".  I think nowadays we are pretty unbalanced:  there is more necessity being encouraged and on the other hand, Opportunity is hardly facilitated.

The article that invited me to write this reflection concludes in its last paragraph that more resources should be spent towards building an entrepreneurial environment in poor communities, no matter if the majority of the people in such communities  will not create any ventures - and that this is okay. To me, this is simply a non-strategic approach.  Who would like to waste resources investing in something that will have no/low return?

Don´t get me wrong. My invitation is not to ignore poor communities as a breeding ground of entrepreneurs, because being coherent with what I stated at the beginning of this post, people with "entrepreneurial genes" are just born everyday, everywhere. But what I challenge are the types of approaches through which some organizations/governments expect to make entrepreneurship flourish in poor communities.  Let me give an example: What approach would be more effective to "create" real entrepreneurship, to "teach entrepreneurship" (whatever that means!!) to 30+ year old people that  who by that age and life moment, as I previously say,  don´t understand and don´t care for understanding that there is a new way to create impact OR to focus on providig high quality K-12 and technical/professional education to youngsters, specially if this education has also the clear goal to nurture  AWARENESS of high impact entrepreneurship as a life option? If I were an investor (call it philantrophist, government, NGO, academic) I would totally go for the second option. There is a direct correlation between education and the capacity to identify opportunities/networks, the ability to lead/execute and the skill to think holistically/big  [any similarity with BABSON´s definition of entrepreneurship is pure coincidence :-) ]. And you can´t build easily these abilities when you are 30+ and you brain is not conditioned to absorbe those abilities.

But here is where the big dilemma of "short term vs. long term impact comes":  are we willing to wait 10+ years to see companies blossom out of those youngsters whose entrepreneurial genes we nurtured? Many organizations just don´t feel like doing it and prefer to go for non-strategic programs to promote entrepreneurship - which in the short term can display cool numbers (such as "1.000.000 people trained!" or "1.000.000 USD in loans!" or "1.000.000 trainning hours!") - but whose bottomline effectiveness is very, very questionable.  I think that if what social investors look for is rapid, short term impact in terms of high impact entrepreneurship development (because entrepreneurship development does not only equal venture creation!!!) the "poor communities" (assuming the High Impact entrepreneurship does  NOT concentrate there) is not the most effective segment to focus on.  

The BoP is an amazing source of opportunities for the world. But forcing programs to desperately foster entrepreneurship is nothing else than barking up the wrong tree, if what we look for is high, short term and sustainable impact.

What do you think?

Currently reading: GEM Report 2010

Hope to share my complete insights soon, but so far, have been loving these phrases ...
(to go to the report, go here)

1. Economies need many different types of entrepreneurs, including those that may be underrepresented: younger and older individuals, women and poorer or disadvantaged groups. Some economies, for instance, showed fewer women, or a low number of younger or older entrepreneurs. When an economy neglects a large demographic in its entrepreneurship ranks, it misses an opportunity to fully benefit from its entrepreneurial potential.


2. In terms of Entrepreneurship, Facilitate Necessity, Encourage Opportunity

"There Is a Hole in My Sidewalk"

Saw this minutes ago being shared by couple of friends in Facebook.

Reminds me the spirit of Entrepreneurs ...

Autobiography in Five Short Chapters

By Portia Nelson

Chapter One

I walk down the street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I fall in.

I am lost…I am helpless.

It isn’t my fault.

It takes forever to find a way out.

Chapter Two

I walk down the street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I pretend that I don’t see it.

I fall in again.

I can’t believe I am in this same place.

But, it isn’t my fault.

It still takes a long time to get out.

Chapter Three

I walk down the same street.

There is a deep whole in the sidewalk.

I see it is there.

I still fall in…it’s a habit…but,

My eyes are open

I know where I am

It is my fault.

I get out immediately,

Chapter Four

I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I walk around it.

Chapter Five

I walk down another street.

And I did it ...! Recently accepted for the BABSON 2-Year MBA Program!

Another dream starts to be fulfilled through my acceptance to the FW OLIN GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS of BABSON COLLEGE!

The Financial Times released their 2011 Global MBA Rankings today and the Babson MBA program was ranked #1 in Entrepreneurship for the second consecutive year.  In addition, this #1 ranking marks the second consecutive annual media ranking cycle where the graduate school was ranked #1 in Entrepreneurship by all three major publications:  U.S. News & World Report (April, 2010), The Princeton Review (October, 2010), and the Financial Times (January, 2011).

Not that I (just) care about rankings, but they`re important to me when for the case of Entrepreneurship they measure things such as number of professors that ARE entrepreneurs/investors and number of alumni that are entrepreneurs, among others.

When I joined Endeavor back in 2007 I remembered having asked someone: Which one is the best B-school focused on Entrepreneurship? I do not remember who even answered but the answer of BABSON prompted. Since then I`ve been a follower of the school, and I kept the BABSON brochure in my bedside table for almost 4 years!!! Not that I have not looked after other B-school, yet everything comes into place for a reason and one comes back home ...

Can`t wait for BABSON to serve as my lab to really help me keep discovering what I am made of, to understand the mistakes I`ve already done in my entrepreneurial life and most important, to find an extra source of "fuel" to realize my real legacy in this world ... 

15 Entrepreneurs from South Africa, Colombia, and Mexico selected at Cape Town

15 Entrepreneurs from South Africa, Colombia, and Mexico selected at Cape Town ISP

 November 19th, 2010 — Justin Belmont

Endeavor invited 15 High-Impact Entrepreneurs from South Africa, Colombia, and Mexico to join its network at its 37th International Selection Panel held in Cape Town, South Africa November 17-19. Endeavor now supports 555 High-Impact Entrepreneurs from 358 companies.

The newest Entrepreneurs were selected by top business leaders from the United States, Europe, and South Africa. In addition to the selection panel, on November 17th participants attended the 2nd annual Global Entrepreneurship Week summit “The State of Entrepreneurship in South Africa.”

This was Endeavor’s sixth selection panel in South Africa since establishing the office in 2004. Endeavor South Africa brought 11 candidates from six companies, out of which six Entrepreneurs were selected. The affiliate’s increased search and selection capabilities, particularly among entrepreneurs from previously disadvantaged groups, have been supported in part by a grant from the Citi Foundation. Citi has also provided support for 2010/2011 Endeavor search and selection activities in Egypt and Turkey. Learn more about the Search & Selection process here.

The companies/Entrepreneurs selected are:

Campoalto (Colombia)
Entrepreneurs: Andrés Angulo, Alvaro Hoffmann, Hugo Fernando Novoa

Campoalto is an education company that operates 16 career certification programs at five “campus” locations in Bogotá. Programs cover offerings in the Health Care sector and, more recently, Hotel Management and Food Services.

Cibecs (South Africa)
Entrepreneur: Richard Dewing

Founded in 2004, Cibecs provides enterprise-wide, centrally managed, automated and secure data protection and recovery services for desktops and notebooks. Its product, Cibecs Continuity, allows clients to easily and quickly recover lost data, reducing infrastructure utilization and optimizing bandwidth and storage usage.

Cinemagic (Mexico)
Entrepreneurs: Roberto Quintero Vega & José Irigoyen Palacios

Cinemagic builds and manages high-tech, modern movie complexes in regional Mexican cities with populations of 50,000-150,000.

Integr8 (South Africa)
Entrepreneurs: Lance Fanaroff and Rob Sussman

Integr8 IT is now the largest privately owned Information, Communications and Technology (ICT) Company on the African continent. It currently supports and regulates the ICT environment of many of South Africa’s leading organizations including Microsoft South Africa, Ernst & Young and Nedbank.

Masana (South Africa)
Entrepreneur: Cynthia Mkhombo

Masana Hygiene Services provides office cleaning programs for clients in a full range of corporate, retail and commercial sectors. In six years, Masana has grown from 7 to over 750 employees, the majority of whom are women.

Neve Gelato (Mexico)
Entrepreneur: Francisco Xavier Briseno Sanchez

Founded in 1999 as Mexico’s first Italian-style ice cream chain, Neve Gelato has built its brand name and retail presence in Mexico City, currently operating 26 shops, and has plans for major expansion throughout the country.

Pabisan (Mexico)
Entrepreneur: Enrique Antonio Ramon Eisenring

Puebla-based Pabisan produces specialty bakery products such as low-sugar and gluten-free bread. Its business lines now span several markets to include a high-end retail bakery franchise, wholesale production for leading domestic supermarkets and exports to American supermarkets.

PagosOnline (Colombia)
Entrepreneurs: Jose Fernando Velez and Martin Schrimpff

PagosOnline has become a domestic industry leader, capturing 80% of the transactions of the Colombian e-commerce market. The company specializes in integrating local forms of payment—such as cash or bank transfers—into their online payment platform.

SYNAQ (South Africa)
Entrepreneurs: Yossi Hasson and David Jacobson.

SYNAQ offers email and internet security products based on the Linux open-source software to both large enterprise and SME clients.