Throughout my life there has been this reoccurring scene in which my father convenes a family meeting, usually on a Sunday evening. By the next morning, we always find ourselves busily packing for yet another international move. I am not complaining though. Far from it! In addition to having acquired five languages and a broad world-view of various cultural traditions, I developed a keen interest in the financial and managerial aspect of our daily lives, as I began developing relationships with various family members and professional in the field who held important positions in various respectable companies.
Being young, dreams of one day running a business were frequently replaced by the prospect of becoming a professional athlete in tennis, rugby or volleyball; as I played competitively and was highly motivated by my personal trainers in each sport. However, I was never able to forget business, as studying the course could be my best chance to utilize all that I had learnt throughout my growing and diverse experiences around the world.

As I made my way through middle school, and entered ninth grade, I was given the opportunity to come in contact with the subject in Business Studies class. In this course, I found myself fascinated by the many economical aspects of business, the managerial portion of businesses, and my personal favorite, the bases of entrepreneurship. In this section of the course, the class took part in simulation websites that replicate the stock market and was required to create our own in-school business to raise money for charity; the business I created, not only sold the most popsicles, but achieved a net profit of 350 Euros in one month, due to my very low overhead costs that derived from the application of managerial and economical economies of scale.

I proceeded with the course until I began the IB programme, which allowed me to further specialize in the subject by taking IB Business at Higher Level.

As a result of my very time costly IB schedule, I found myself with very little to no free time, as I consumed every available hour with extracurricular activities; activities such as a BP Oil internship in business; a Global Young Leaders conference; the student council presidency at my high school; a service trip to Ghana, where we built homes for the less fortunate; business chats with various entrepreneurs and CEOs/FEOs such Carlos Brito, the Chief Executive Officer of Anheuser-Busch (InBEV/ AmBEV); undergraduate preparatory courses for university; and of course, feeding the old business news-junky habit. These were all activities of which I am very proud of having accomplished and which I believe allowed my free-time to be used very in a wise and enjoyable way.

In spite of the tight schedule that I keep, being well-rounded is important to me, so I persuade myself to relax by competing in National or International tennis tournaments, participating in the school’s varsity teams, and following a fitness programme in order to maintain peak fitness levels. I value my social, as I very much enjoy my friends who allow me to express myself and otherwise decompress. Frankly, there is nothing like a Sunday barbecue with friends to prepare one for the academic challenges of the coming week.

After completing university, I hope to have acquired the necessary knowledge base and wisdom to first acquire a top-notch MBA degree and then take part in a respectable company where I will continue to evolve personally and as a businessman. In time, I hope to be behind the unraveling of the crisis that is currently relapsing our economy, and I hope to one day be the owner of my own successful business, where I will have the opportunity to provide my family with a secure and prospering home environment, similar to or better than that of my own.