Darden’s Center for Global Initiatives recently hosted 44 MBA students and staff from the PAD School of Management in Lima, Peru for a week-long international partner program focused on entrepreneurship and innovation. Led by the Darden faculty team of Raul Chao, Tom Steenburgh, Elena Loutskina and Bobby Parmar, the program included sessions on leadership, marketing, operations and financial aspects of entrepreneurship. Students learned about financing and scaling up startups, navigating difficult conversations as leaders, and utilizing a design thinking mindset for innovation. Apart from class sessions, the program included a company visit to Reason Beer, Charlottesville’s newest brewery, where PAD students heard from co-founder Jeff Raileanu, as well as a visit to UVA’s iLab, where iLab senior director David Touve instructed the group on how to pitch a startup venture. First year Darden students from the Latin American Student Association (LASA) also took part in the program through an interactive panel session with PAD students.
