On behalf of Babson College and the Latin America Forum Committee, we thank you for participating and making the first Latin America Entrepreneurship Forum a great success.

A very special thank-you to the speakers, moderators and panelists for expressing their helpful perspectives and contributing to this regional forum. The views expressed were insightful, the debates productive, and we know we have all learned valuable knowledge about entrepreneurial opportunities in Latin America.

We want also to congratulate again our Rocket Pitch winners and wish them the best of luck in implementing their ventures. The winners were:

1. Yo Reciclo – Hector Elizondo
2. PayFacile – Marc Saint Clair
3. New Venture Development – Luis Soto

Finally, we would like to take this opportunity to thank our sponsors, without whom we would be unable to create this event:

• The William .F. Glavin Center for Global Management
• The Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship
• Babson Career Center for Development
• The Student Government Association
• The Graduate Student Council
• Pneus Levorin
• Office of Campus Life

We hope next generations will maintain this initiative in the years to come. We really hope you have enjoyed the event and we look forward to seeing you in other events organized by Babson College.

Best Regards,

The Latin American Entrepreneurship Forum Committee

]]> http://www.babsonlatinamerica.com/?feed=rss2&p=116 0 http://www.babsonlatinamerica.com/?p=114 http://www.babsonlatinamerica.com/?p=114#comments Wed, 22 Apr 2009 04:34:59 +0000 Bernardo Sosa http://www.babsonlatinamerica.com/?p=114 With its Sovereign Bancorp purchase, Santander takes its strong acquisitions record to the American market.

Link to the article in BW

You have to be present at the Networking Cocktail to be eligible to win.

The competition is open to all graduate and undergraduate students and prize money goes up to $1,000 for the first place.

Read all about it here

Grupo Santander

Babson College and Grupo Santander have a commited relationship of collaboration since 2007 that seeks to “foster entrepreneurial spirit amongst universities”. The financial giant and Babson have several initiatives together, but perhaps the most interesting from the Latin American point of view is the following:

Banco Santander’s contribution is also used to fund some or Babson College’s research. In particular, the GEM report on entrepreneurial culture and attitudes in Latin America, the most recent issue of which was published in Chile.

We’ll follow closely the relationship between this important bank and our school. An official press release can be found here.

Sovereign Bank (Santander Group)

In January, Spanish banking giant Banco Santander SA (STD) Monday appointed Colombian banker Gabriel Jaramillo as the new chairman and chief executive of its U.S. unit Sovereign Bancorp Inc.

Jaramillo, aged 58, is already a member of Sovereign’s board of directors. He joined Santander in 1996 and worked on several of the bank’s acquisitions in Latin America. Jaramillo is also an advisor to Santander Chairman Emilio Botin.

During his career at Santander, Jaramillo also served as chairman of Santander Colombia from 1997-1999. More recently he was president of Santander Brazil.

The Babson Latin America Business Club is proud to count with Mr. Jaramillo’s presence as keynote speaker in our upcoming Latin America Entrepreneurship Forum (April 24th, 2009).

NPR Logo

Our good friend Peter Rovick was so kind to point us to this NPR show about how the crisis is hitting Latin America, with all its own problematic issues. The show is hosted by Tom Ashbrook and guests are Joby Warrick, intelligence reporter for The Washington Post, Ricardo Avila, editor-in-chief of Portafolio, a daily financial paper published in Colombia and John Price, managing director for business intelligence at Kroll Associates.

You can listen to the show online: http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2009/03/latin-america-and-the-global-crisis/

The countdown has officially started! In exactly one month, we’ll proudly host the 1st Latin America Entrepreneurship Forum at Babson College. Our leadership has done an excellent job assembling an incredible lineup of speakers and panelists, ranging from seasoned entrepreneurs to successful business leaders in all industries in Latin America.

Please visit our website to learn more about these participants, which include the Founder and CEO of the Inter-American Economic Council, the Chairman and CEO of Sovereign Bank and the Founder and President of Totto (Colombia).

These are only a few ways you can help us attract people to the Forum:

• Add the signature of the Forum to your email signature (view the bottom of this email)
• Put the event and a link on your statuses (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc)
• Join the event on LinkedIn
• Join the event on Facebook
• Register for the event!
• Tell everybody and help spread the word!

…Every new year, I adopt a couple of old maxims as my beacons to guide my future. This self-prescribed therapy has ensured that with each passing year, I grow wiser and not older. This year, I invite you to tap into the financial wisdom of our elders along with me, and become financially wiser.

* Hard work: All hard work bring a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.
* Laziness: A sleeping lobster is carried away by the water current.
* Earnings: Never depend on a single source of income. [At least make your Investments get you second earning]
* Spending: If you buy things you don’t need, you’ll soon sell things you need.

Read the complete blog post in Fun-learn-share blog