Luis Diego Ramirez

Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto

“Passionate entrepreneur open to new challenges and perspectives.”

Hometown: Jose, Costa Rica

Fun Fact About Yourself: I am a sports enthusiast that loves to practice all types of sports (soccer, mountain bike, motorbikes, tennis, racquetball, running, boxing and recently basketball).

Undergraduate School and Major: Universidad de Costa Rica, Bachelor in Business Administration

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: 

Co-Managing Partner of two entrepreneurial ventures in consumer goods (Obrigado Brigaderia + Enpaleta) in multiple roles as CFO/Management/Strategy/Operations

EY Central America – Valuation and business modeling + Corporate Finance Strategy – Senior Analyst

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: My biggest accomplishment so far has been growing and scaling from scratch two entrepreneurial ventures that compete in the brutal industry of consumer goods. Without any prior experience in the food industry or in retail and wholesale, we were able to grow, adapt, and successfully compete with industry giants through product innovation, personalization, and straight-up hustle and hard work. It was a tough challenge considering we had to bootstrap both businesses. Therefore, we relied only on ourselves (the partners) to manage all of the workload of product innovation, sales, customer service, marketing, operations, supply chain, and basically all of the areas of management.

What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? Diversity and drive are definitely the qualities that best describe my MBA classmates. Not only do they come from 44 different countries, but from all sorts of academic backgrounds that allow for an extremely enriching environment. Tackling problems with such diverse career backgrounds and perspectives is one of the most powerful tools we can have to learn and grow as professionals and leaders.

Aside from your classmates, what was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? The key factor for me was having the opportunity of being part of the Creative Destruction Lab (CDL). I was privileged to be awarded the CDL Fellowship, which allows me to be at the heart of the acceleration/incubation process of high impact technological startups. This is really important for me considering I want to continue to immerse myself in the entrepreneurial/start-up ecosystem, specifically in the technological sector. Being able to have this experience in a booming tech hub such as Toronto made my decision a no brainer.

What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? I am looking forward to becoming a member of the Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Association, the Business Analytics Club and the Business Design Club. These three clubs combine my main areas of interest that I want to explore and strengthen coming into my MBA journey. Considering I want to immerse myself into the technological startup world, data analytics and business design are two fundamental areas that are crucial for the success of any startup going forward. I am excited to leverage the club´s tools, resources and network to expand my learning experience.

What was the most challenging question you were asked during the admissions process? What is your dream job?

This is the magic question I believe everyone throughout their lives tries to answer. Sometimes, there is no single right answer. Other times, that answer may vary from time-to-time or there is more than one dream job. In my case, I embrace the MBA as an opportunity to narrow down my vision and path in my entrepreneurial journey.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? I have always wanted to pursue an international MBA, not only acquire new skills but also to challenge myself beyond what I have experienced in Central America. After six years of working in both the corporate side (finance and strategy) and the entrepreneurial side (consumer goods industry), I felt it was time to push myself beyond my limits in an international scenario. It was time to tackle bigger challenges while learning from people from all over the world.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? None. My main priorities were always the strategic location and a rigorous and innovative MBA curriculum. After doing my research and due diligence of MBA programs around the world, both Canada and Rotman really stood out and met all of my personal and professional requirements.

How did you determine your fit at various schools? I prioritized the strategic location of the school, diversity of the student body, the opportunity to major in a specific area of interest, an innovative MBA curriculum, and post MBA opportunities to have pivotal opportunities for my career going forward.

The most valuable tools I used to research culture were reaching out to MBA candidates to ask about their experiences, and reading blogs and papers in several online resources (GMAT club, LinkedIn, mba.com and many others.)

What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? My defining moment was quitting my job at EY just as I got a promotion. I had accepted the opportunity of a partnership position in two small entrepreneurial ventures that not only focused in an industry I had no experience on but also had restricted capital to grow. The huge underlying risk and uncertainty of taking this step at that point of my life triggered a profound journey of questioning and redefining my personal and professional aspirations going into the future. I had to submerge myself into a completely new mindset. Today,

I can say it positively shaped my perspective of business and life.

Where do you see yourself in ten years? In ten years, I see myself immersed in the startup ecosystems, either working on a high impact tech startup or working in a Venture Capital helping other businesses reach their potential.