Meet The MBA Class Of 2023: Federico Andres Obelar Camperchioli, HEC Paris

Federico Andres Obelar Camperchioli

HEC Paris

“I’m a resilient person with strong moral values who believes that education propels real changes.”

Hometown: Asunción, Paraguay

Fun Fact About Yourself:  First on my bucket list, to open a restaurant where I could cook for my clients and friends. With its profit, I would serve meals to humble communities in my society.

Undergraduate School and Major: I majored in Industrial Engineering, from the Universidad Católica de Asunción, Paraguay.

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: I currently hold a unique position at CIE, the biggest metalworking company in Paraguay, as the Business Development Executive.

Aside from your classmates, what was the key part of HEC Paris’ MBA programming that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? Among the infinite opportunities and prestige HEC Paris offers to its students, its flexibility in its curricula is what really appealed to me. I consider it is important for students to have the opportunity to build part of their curriculum. Tailoring the program to my professional objectives, which embraces my social and economic realities, is part of my plan. Definitely, HEC allows me to pursue one of the most desired journeys in my life with its outstanding and well-recognized MBA program.

What course, club or activity excites you the most at HEC Paris? The Off-campus Leadership Seminar seems to be an amazing experience according to the testimony of various alumni. However, I am most excited about the MBA Tournament. I believe that a big part of the entire MBA experience relies on interacting with people from all over the world and creating strong lasting bonds. In the MBAT, I will have the opportunity to meet thousands of new MBA students from different schools around the globe, which makes it a very enriching cultural and learning experience.

Since HEC is the host of such an appealing event it will allow me, as one of its students, to serve as an ambassador while exchanging both life and academic experiences with outstanding MBA students who share common goals.

HEC Paris is just 17 kilometers from Paris. What do you see as the best part of earning your MBA so close to Paris?  Living in one of the world’s capitals has always been my life goal, especially coming from a developing country like Paraguay where I do experience other wonderful but different opportunities. My goal is to pursue an MBA, which means focusing on an academic experience and a campus environment only makes it better. Isolation is not what I am looking for, but being steps away from Paris will allow me to have the best of both worlds. Paris will add to my life with the culture it breathes, including its fantastic and unique culinary experience, history, and diversity. Immersing myself in this new lifestyle will add so much to my life.

Moreover, Paris is one of the world’s biggest financial centers, hosting one of the largest concentrations of Fortune 500 companies. Paris is also Europe’s largest incubator and promoter of scientific studies for the world’s benefit.

Finally, I am eager to start this wonderful academic journey where I have no doubt I will add tools to my toolbox and immerse myself into a new culture and quench my thirst in so many areas of my life.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: As the youngest executive of CIE, it has allowed me to connect our company to innovative projects and people my age that nowadays are propelling our emerging economy. So far, the biggest accomplishment in my career has been acting as a liaison between CIE and Paracel, which is the most significant private investment in the history of Paraguay. I believe this is my biggest accomplishment, not only because of the revenues the company will receive, but because of the impact this industry will have on our country once it starts operating. The social, environmental, and economic impact will be extraordinary, such that the area where it will be located will go through a period of great transformation from being a forgotten city with little to no education to a pole of industrialization and job recruitment. Today ,expectations are so high, specifically in health and education. Consequently, this will open new job opportunities in various fields and will bring great improvements in so many areas at different levels.

Being among the companies selected to participate in the construction of such a magnanimous project will greatly impact CIE itself. Having to team with engineers from Sweden, Germany, or Brazil while this plant is being developed will take our company to another level. I can envision new dynamics in our performances; new doors will open for our company and its employees to reach higher goals and obtain greater accomplishments. CIE as a whole is looking forward with a positive outlook to the coming years.

How did COVID-19 change your perspective on your career and your life in general? I think the most important thing COVID-19 taught me is the value of family. Having my entire family with me, healthy and alive, is the best gift I could ask for. The pandemic taught me about the value of a hug, friends, moments, and to enjoy every day we are alive. It taught me to open that bottle of wine I saved for a special moment; the special moment is today, embrace it, live it, and enjoy it.

COVID-19 also taught me what my country lacks and pushed me to be even better for those who didn’t have the opportunities I had in life. More than ever, I know I need to take advantage of the opportunities life gives me and make my country better by creating jobs and reducing the existing educational gap. I need to work even harder to recover what we lost, and more importantly, to be ready for any similar situation like the pandemic.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point and what do you hope to do after graduation? At this stage of my life, an HEC Paris MBA is crucial to achieving my life goals. I have had the experience of working at the biggest metalworking company in the country, which has so many emblematic constructions such as Itaipu Binacional, I knew it wasn’t going to be easy to instill my way of thinking and establish my innovative ideas in the company.

I am in a stage of my professional life where I need an MBA to get to the next level, to be able to implement new technologies and innovative ways of doing business while continuing to maintain CIE as a referent company in my country. Since I was offered a place at CIE’s board of directors for 2023, my objective is to take advantage of the in-between time and empower myself with an HEC Paris MBA to be ready for such a challenge. It is imperative to instill within me a new mindset, one that I will share with my comrades, connected to a globalized world and backed up by a strong educational background that HEC Paris will provide me with.

I am excited to be looked upon as aa HEC Paris MBA alumni. This is especially true after having had the academic experience, having learned about innovative business practices, technological advances, leadership, teamwork, and gaining a broader network of classmates. Also, the exposure to such cultural diversity and  strong sense of community will allow me to become a citizen of the world. I will then be prepared for greater future challenges of the globalized business world I will encounter.

After graduation, I want to return to Paraguay, sit in the chair I was offered, develop job opportunities, and continue looking for new challenges in my life.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? I did apply to London Business School, INSEAD, IESE, IE and Oxford.

What advice would you give to help potential applicants gain admission into HEC Paris’s MBA program? I will tell potential applicants to be truthful to themselves, to express what they think and feel and be honest. I believe that the world is for brave and bold people who constantly embrace challenges to achieve their goals. Also, I will tell them to have objectives beyond what’s only in front of them, put themselves in the global mindset, and think like a citizen of the world capable of causing an impact in it.

Finally, the most important advice: show yourself as who you are and how your strengths and weaknesses will help you become the best version of yourself in pursuit of development and happiness.

DON’T MISS: MEET THE HEC PARIS MBA CLASS OF 2023

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