Videos
Ignacio del Rio, Alumni
- Year
- 2010-2011
- From
- Chile
- Sector
- Personal Finance
- Location
- Chile
- Degree
-
2011 MBA, Sloan School of Management
“I realized the importance of entrepreneurship for a country’s development as a source of economic growth, job creation and social mobility for the opportunities it creates for everyone, and it is in the light of the importance of entrepreneurship for a developing country that inspired me to start a business in Chile.”
The idea is to develop an investment platform that will allow the growing middle class in Chile to manage their wealth without incurring in the current high costs of asset management.
Individuals in Chile’s growing middle class, now 50% of the country’s population, have liquidity or periods of liquidity. Currently, middle class individuals’ only option is to invest in mutual funds with deficient returns and high fees.
A direct investment in the market is expected to have higher risk adjusted returns than mutual funds, which has been the situation for the last ten years. The problem is that average middle class individuals do not have the possibility and knowledge to invest directly in the market.
My project is to give direct market access to the middle class of Chile. The project is to build an investment platform focused on middle class individuals with no investing knowledge, a group largely unattractive to the markets’ managers.
The middle class of Chile represents the growth engine of the country. The platform will not only achieve greater returns for them, but will educate a big part of Chile’s population in understanding capital investing and value creation.
I am currently in my first year at the MBA in MIT Sloan developing the project. Prior to MIT I was the Investment Manager of Bancard, a prestigious family office in Chile. I learned there several investment techniques and insights on the Chilean market. I also developed a network with most of Chile’s players in the industry: brokers, portfolio managers and investor relations executives.
Also I am an Industrial Engineer specialized in information technologies, which allows me to be comfortable starting a Web-based start-up relying on information systems.
In entrepreneurship there is a gap between the idea and “how to really do it”. I plan to spend my time as a Legatum Fellow working on my business plan leveraging on the seminars and the great support of the network: Mentors, Fellows, entrepreneurs, etc.
