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FAC E S O F I M PAC T
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M I L E S TO N E
The 100th Endeavor Entrepreneur
is selected.
Mentorship is central to Endeavor's
model. In 2001 Pedro Aspe, Mexico's
former finance minister, invited
Linda Rottenberg to visit a group of
wealthy Mexican businessmen in one
of the country's most exclusive clubs.
Pedro was interested in encouraging
entrepreneurship in Mexico and offered
to introduce Linda to some "key
businessmen," including billionaires
Carlos Slim and Emilio Azcarraga.
One of the men started off:
"Linda, we don't understand.
We're starting to see young
entrepreneurs in Brazil, Argentina,
and Chile. Why not in Mexico?"
"With all due respect," Linda said,
"you are the big fish. Here in Mexico
you tend to eat the little fish. If you
want entrepreneurship to thrive here,
then why don't you think of building
an aquarium—that's Endeavor—where
the big fish learn to feed the little fish?"
One year later, Endeavor Mexico
launched, with Aspe as the founding
chairman and four others in the
room on the board. Over the next
decade Endeavor set up offices in nine
Mexican states and mentored more
than 80 high-growth companies.
In 2012 Mexico's leading business
magazine published an article about
the country's thriving entrepreneurial
ecosystem. e headline: Big Fish
Feeding the Little Fish. e source of
the quote: One of the men in that room.
THE BIG FISH FEED
THE LITTLE FISH
Photo
courtesy
of
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