Hispanic Enterprise - June/July 2008 - (Page 43)

* “THERE IS TONS OF TALENT AND WEALTH IN LATIN AMERICA, BUT IF SOMEONE HAD A BIG IDEA THEY HAD NOWHERE TO GO. THERE WERE NO ROLE MODELS OF MENTORS.” no role models or mentors.” Another challenge she saw was the interpretation of failure. “Failure is a bad word in Latin America. In the U.S., it’s a badge of experience.” So, she explains, she set out to support entrepreneurs with “crazy ideas.” Countless successful entrepreneurs have had ideas that were once considered outlandish our out of the ordinary. “If people don’t say you’re crazy, you have a problem.” The ﬁrst step was to build a community of support, mentorship and trust to close the gap between investors and entrepreneurs and inspire the next generation to think big. That meant programs would have to be localized. Endeavor’s headquarters are in New York, but it currently has afﬁliates in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay, India, Jordan, Egypt, South Africa and Turkey, and it plans to expand into 25 emerging markets by 2015. “Each Endeavor country is a self-supporting afﬁliate. We’re not U.S.-centric, [but we] share common methods, procedures and brand integrity,” says co-founder and Endeavor Global and Chile board member Peter Kellner. In fact, he says it’s one of its competitive advantages. “Endeavor has succeeded because we understand every country will be different, and can only be successful if owned by the country itself.” Ninety-six percent of the companies selected as Endeavor entrepreneurs are still operating, quite an accomplishment in countries where the majority of ventures fail within 42 months. HISPANIC ENTERPRISE So what exactly is a high-impact entrepreneur and how do you go about ﬁnding one? “It’s individuals with the biggest ideas and most scalable businesses,” says Rottenberg. Endeavor looks at both the individual’s leadership potential and the company’s potential for business innovation, job and wealth creation. “Our entrepreneurs are remarkable people, individually and philosophically,” Kellner says. They tend to pay more than the average minimum wage, invest in the education of employees and offer beneﬁts beyond what’s required by law. “They are deeply committed to their own enterprise and economic change and development.” Selection varies by country and the individual afﬁliate, which determines if candidates apply or must be nominated. If an afﬁliate is just coming online, Endeavor often recruits prospective entrepreneurs. The selection process is extremely rigorous and requires various staff interviews. “They pass through many hurdles to get to the selection panel,” explains Kellner. Once the entrepreneurs are selected, Endeavor provides support, at both the local and global level, through hands-on tools, mentoring and networks, in effect helping overcome barriers to success, such as lack of role models, limited knowledge of new venture creation, limited access to smart capital, lack of trust, and lack of management expertise and contacts. Endeavor’s business model also involves promotion—partnering with leading media companies and universities to get the word out on success stories; inﬂuence, teaming with government and institutions to look at policy changes to promote entrepreneurship and venture capital; and ﬁnally, reinvestment, asking Endeavor entrepreneurs to donate a percentage of equity or revenues back to their local afﬁliate. In one decade, Endeavor has screened more than 18,000 candidates, and chosen 369 entrepreneurs from 243 companies, the majority from Latin America (311 entrepreneurs from 206 companies), says Rottenberg. She adds that Endeavor companies have generated 90,719 jobs, paying on average, 10 times the minimum wage. In 2007 alone, Endeavor entrepreneurs generated $2.4 billion in revenues. Manuel del Castillo, an Endeavor entrepreneur from Mexico, more than doubled his revenues under Endeavor’s guidance. His 17-year-old Monterrey-based company, URMAN, a premium school and ofﬁce supply company, was chosen by Endeavor in 2006. He anticipates $30 million in revenues this year—that’s up from between $9-$13 million before being selected. “Endeavor helped me structure my company and make it more efﬁcient,” he says. Today, he employs about 200 employees, has ofﬁces in Chile, Los Angeles and Mexico City, and does business in the U.S., Central and South America and the Caribbean. Gabriel Colla, founder and president of the IT consulting business, Infocorp Group, based in Montevideo, Uruguay, shares a similar success story. He started his company in 1994, when he was only 21 years old. He became an Endeavor entrepreneur in 2002, right when he was in the midst of exploring new markets outside of Uruguay, and expanding with new ofﬁces in Puerto Rico and Chile. He says Endeavor supported him through the growth process, which happened very fast; and, they connected him with a venture capitalist. He went from having 30 employees in 2002 to more than 200 in 2006. Today, he has clients in 17 countries. “With Endeavor, you feel you have a place to share ideas. There’s a network of contacts, people who have already gone through it.” Endeavor also aids entrepreneurs on a broader scale through local university partnerships. Besides helping local universities develop their entrepreneurship curricula, Endeavor facilitates events so entrepreneurs can share their ideas with students. Another component is the eMBA program, where students from the top 16 business schools in the U.S.—Harvard, Stanford, Columbia and Wharton, to name a few—get to spend the summer working in some of Endeavor companies. Colla’s was one of those companies, and he says having someone from another country helps in doing business with other cultures. For Rottenberg—who graduated from Harvard magna cum laude with a B.A. in Social Studies and earned her J.D from Yale—breaking barriers is all in a day’s work. In 2007, she was the ﬁrst female chair of the World Economic Forum on the Middle East and Time magazine selected her as one of 100 Innovators for the 21st Century in 2001. 43 June/July 2008

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Hispanic Enterprise - June/July 2008

Hispanic Enterprise - June/July 2008 Contents Briefcase: BIZBUZZ: Business Briefs Briefcase: Dynamic Trends Briefcase: Q&A Briefcase: Trendsetters BizLife: BizTech BizLife: Travel Feature: Target: Hispanics Cover Story: A Legend in His Own Time Feature: Top 25 Franchises Success & Motivation: The Talent Scout Education: Success by Degrees Finance & Investing: A Tough Sell Social Events: Emerge Dallas Politics & Government: The Accidental Americans Managing: Deconstructing Networking

Hispanic Enterprise - June/July 2008

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