Carolina, Colombia

Director of CESA Business School Entrepreneurship Centre
EGMiM class of 2012-14

What is your academic and professional background?

I studied previous degrees in Law and Environmental Management in Colombia, before joining the EGMiM programme at LSE in 2014. During my career I have worked as a consultant in international trade, mostly in free trade zones cases, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and inclusive business. Currently I work in entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship fields, as Director of the Entrepreneurship Centre at CESA Business School, known as the best business school in Colombia. At the Centre we coordinate 19 programs that support entrepreneurs to develop their business models from inception, validation of product or services, and incubation and acceleration of the enterprise (the last stage currently under construction).CESA is currently undergoing the process to become an ASHOKA changemaker campus, which means that we will be recognized as a university that supports social innovation.

What attracted you to apply for the EGMiM programme?

I searched for an executive Master’s degree at top universities in the US and Europe, and EGMiM was the only one which offered the flexibility to suit my time and work needs, with the unique modular study format. EGMiM offered me the flexibility to continue my work and personal life in my home country while studying. The two international modules, and the world-renowned LSE brand, were also very appealing.

How has the programme helped the general development of your career?  

One of the requirements of my current job was to undertake a Master’s degree abroad, so without EGMiM I would not have been chosen to direct the Entrepreneurship Centre at CESA. Besides the lectures and teachers, from which I learned theories, trends and sources of research, I really valued the fact that EGMiM allows you to build an international network of great professionals and human beings. Going through EGMiM and learning from the life experiences of my colleagues has allowed me to think about my professional career, and helped me make the decision to take a new professional path that I’m passionate about.

How have you applied specific learning from the classroom in your work/job role?

The Organisational Behaviour lectures helped me to validate what I already thought about motivation at work. The international focus of the programme has also helped me to think about the way I structure my team at work with an international approach, and to do international benchmarking in the fields I’m interested in.