Where Rodolfo is from

Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico

 

Interview

What was your dream when you were a kid? What was the reason?

I wanted to be a scientist. Everything related to robots or mixing chemical substances really drew my attention when I was a kid. I think my dream was to build a great robot that could fly all over the world – with me as its pilot of course!

 

What was your dream when you were 18 years old? What was the reason?

My dream was to become a diplomat with a great prestige in solving conflicts between nations. I was also really interested in traveling within my country and abroad trying to understand different cultures.

 

What made you start thinking about social entrepreneurship/social enterprises? When was that?

I have been working in Corporate Social Responsibility for more than 9 years. During this time, I have had the opportunity to meet great social entrepreneurs. I definitely got inspired by the way they tackle social and environmental problems with a business approach.

 

How much do you think social entrepreneurs play an important role in the world?

They are breaking the myth that says business can´t solve social and environmental problems, and that´s huge. In the future, we will see social entrepreneurship as a movement that made more effective and efficient the way we invest money for developing communities and countries. The most qualified business students around the world will find very attractive to be social entrepreneurs because it will be well paid and challenging.

 

What would you say to future social entrepreneurs / those who are interested in social entrepreneurs?

Having a good heart will not be enough. That´s the minimum required to be a social entrepreneur. What really can set us apart from the others, is our ability to understand, launch and scale ventures that will help other people in a sustainable fashion. Actually that´s what I find really challenging about social entrepreneurship: that you need to have a great sensibility to empathize with the people you´re helping, but you also need a good set of business skills in order to thrive.

 

What is your favorite quote? Who said that quote?

“Choose your battles wisely”. – Sun Tzu.

Assess if it’s worth to fight anytime someone tries to block your plans. Don’t let your pride or anger interfere with your final goal. Remember that your energy is finite, so always choose the hardest battles. Either you win or lose, you’ll be a stronger social entrepreneur afterwards.

 

Who Rodolfo is

Rodolfo is a tolerant and understanding person. Everyone who knows Rodolfo would agree with that. I have never seen him get mad, frustrated or complain about something. He is always smiling, welcoming anyone and talking in a friendly manner. He is definitely a person that you feel comfortable to be with.

Rodolfo does not hold something valuable back but is willing to share it with the people around him. No matter how busy he is or how hard of a  situation he finds himself, he gives you a tip or information that he finds relevant for you to make you a better person. I cannot count how many times he has saved me and how many times I have appreciated his help.

Speaking of helping, Rodolfo is always willing to support others. He is one of the most supportive people among our classmates. What makes Rodolfo different from others is that he comes and offers help before you ask him for help. I think that he has a sensor to sense a hidden “I need your help” voice from someone’s heart. Many people would agree with me about it because that is the truth.

 

Awesome Episode

Rodolfo and I were bike buddies; we both love biking and we biked to school and home. The direction to each of our places was the same so we often biked home together. My place was 15 minutes away from school but Rodolfo said that his place was 45 minutes away, so I thought that it must have been tough to bike for 45 minutes one way every day.

One day, Rodolfo invited me to his place for an exhibition that his wife Isaura held so we went there by bike. It was at Bernal Heights and I was very excited about visiting there, like “I can finally visit his place.”…it turned out “OMG!” I needed to go through very steep uphill roads to get there and it tired me out very, very much. I could not believe that Rodolfo did that every day for a whole year.

It was such a great exhibition and totally worth visiting there all the way from home. Every art piece was exceptionally beautiful. My favorite was ‘Baltazar’, which is the name of their baby boy that they are expecting to have very soon. Grow strongly like a King, Baltazar!

 

The Power of MSE

What Rodolfo is holding is a symbol called “go-en(ご縁)”, which means ‘fate’, ’destiny’ and ’special tie.’

I believe that it is meant to be that we met in San Francisco! I studied Social Entrepreneurship with Rodolfo for a year, saying “We will make the world a better place.” I would love to spend the rest of my life with MSEs (Master of Social Entrepreneurship; my classmates) until the very day I die. They have already completely changed my life.

At the same time, however, I also think that we should not be together all the time, because that is not the reason why we learned Social Entrepreneurship. That is not how we will deliver the impact we want to give to society and to the world.

I think MSEs are like dandelions. We were seeded at the first day at Hult and we bloomed on our graduation day. Our mission is that we spread all over the world like dandelions and seed the future, the next generation, from each place where each of us has landed.

本当にありがとう(Honto ni Arigato-); Thank you very very much for everything!! The world needs you! Let’s make the world a better place together!!