Eduardo Clavijo

“London is the most cosmopolitan city in the world and the School completely reflects this.”

After 16 years running an IT consulting company for the manufacturing industry and a 3D printing technology supplier, Eduardo completed a successful exit in 2014, to pursue his next challenge. 

As a successful founder, he’s an experienced ‘solo’ entrepreneur, setting up businesses with partners, and as an investor in tech companies such as ‘the laboratory of ecommerce ideas’, Bluibon. But, for Eduardo, it all felt too regional.  

Broadening tech-xpertise

“In the 16 years I was making and growing my company I had the opportunity to learn a lot, but I always had the feeling that my network was too local and therefore, so was my exposure to global knowledge,” says Eduardo. London Business School’s (LBS) Sloan Masters in Leadership and Strategy helped him resolve this. “The diversity of cultures, businesses, industries, nationalities and points of view you get on a daily basis, boosted my global knowledge and changed the way I see the world,” he says.

Eduardo’s goal was not only to expand his global perspective, but also, his leadership skills. He wanted to be himself, but better. “My objective was to learn and broaden my mind,” he says. “I wanted to be a better global leader and learn from as many different points of view as possible.”

For Eduardo, getting the most out of Sloan meant completely clearing down his mind, and focusing his efforts on learning. “Sloan is a programme with full dedication,” he says. “LBS has so many things to offer you, so you need to be focused (and free) to make the most of it.”

“This teaching structure is magic”

It wasn’t just full programme immersion that enriched Eduardo’s learning experience. He found the teaching at LBS unmatched. “The professor acts as a moderator. You feel that you are learning as much from each of your class fellows as from the professor,” he says. “It is not about what the professor has to teach us but what we learn together as a group.” 

The experienced makeup of Eduardo’s class created an open, trusted forum where the students felt confident in sharing their diverse experiences and commenting on each other’s points of view. The cohort truly values each other, which explains why one of the many start-ups he’s involved with is Nickle, the peer-to-peer lending app founded by Sloan alumna Norah Prida Bay.

Eduardo’s tip for prospective students and trailblazing entrepreneurs: “If you want to create a start-up, and build it up to a global company, there’s no better location than London.

“You have access to talent, money and markets.”