Meet The Rotman MBA Class Of 2018

Andrés Afanador   

Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto

Describe yourself in 15 words or less: I´m obsessed with consumer behavior, a metalhead and a foodie in the making.

Hometown: Bogotá, Colombia

Fun Fact About Yourself: I´m the worst salsa dancer, despite being Colombian.

Undergraduate School and Major: Business Management, Los Andes University. Bogotá.

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation:

Brand Manager-Kimberly Clark Colombia

Trade Marketing Associate-Quala S.A.

Tourism Analyst-LAN Colombia

Management Control Analyst-LAN Colombia

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: Besides being admitted in Rotman?

Looking back on your experience, what advice would you give to future business school applicants? Applying for an MBA is, first-and-foremost an introspective process. You must first figure out who you are, what motivates you, what you like, what you don´t like, and what your biggest dreams are. If you build your application around these elements, it will be an exciting process for you, and that excitement will rub on the admissions committee. Your “personal brand” is very important, and “The MBA reality check” by David Thomas and Evan Forster is a wonderful book that helped a lot in the process of building my own.

What led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA? Once you´ve looked through enough MBAs and their curriculum, your start noticing a lot of similarities. Most offer the same courses and have the same structure. I think Rotman really sets itself apart with its integrated approach to teaching and its concentration on design thinking. Plus, half the students are international students, and the program is located in a mega-diverse city with lots of opportunities to network and experience cultural diversity. All of this makes for a very compelling and interesting program.

Tell us about your dream job or dream employer at this point in your life? After having worked in the consumer goods industry, I firmly believe that only through constant innovation can companies beat the “commoditization” of products and the constant pressure of store brands. After graduation, I hope to work in product development in the consumer goods industry because I want to be at the forefront of innovation, creating better products and more memorable experiences for consumers.

What would you like your business school peers to say about you after you graduate from this program? The 2018 class is the one with the most Colombian students in recent history (or ever, if I´m not mistaken). As a group, we are aware that the school is putting a lot of faith in us, so I would like professors and other students to say that Colombians are hard workers and that we represented our country well.