Guest post by Oliver Huslid, Evening MBA student

Machu Picchu
We took a bus, a train, and then a bus again to reach the top of Machu Picchu Mountain where the ruins are. My headache left me, which is fortunate since the first thing I did upon arrival is sprint across the ruins to get my name on the list for the Huaynu Pichu hike. Only 300 visitors are allowed at a time and I wanted to catch up with my classmates who had taken earlier buses than I. The climb forces me to do a solid hour of stair-stepping but rewards me with a majestic view of the Machu Picchu ruins.
 
Microfinance and women entrepreneurs
Our first company visit is with Credivision, a WorldVision-owned microfinance company focused on lending to women in Peru. They have medium-sized operations, having fewer than 200 active accounts but always expanding. A stringent application process ensures high-quality borrowers on their portfolio and a high repayment rate. A minimum of 10 women are required to apply for a loan together as a group—this is to encourage the borrowers to help each other out with their businesses, whether it’s giving advice or pooling funds. Because they’re on the hook together, they will often cover for each other’s payments should one borrower’s business fail and peer pressure the delinquent individual into solvency.

Peru stock exchange
We visit the stock exchange, a nondescript commercial building in one of the business districts of town. The presenter is regrettably too incoherent for me to learn anything, though I do recall from an earlier presentation that Peru’s stock market is over half mining capitalization. Their goal is to merge with Colombia’s stock exchange, which is dominated by textiles, and Argentina’s stock exchange, which is dominated by services, to create a unified and diversified stock market.
 
Paragliding over Peru
On my last day, I go paragliding off the cliffs of Lima by the shoreline. For the first time, I’m able to see across the endless city of Lima, home to 8 million, and I immediately forget all that’s on my mind. I look down the coast until the beach meets the horizon and begin to feel very relaxed. The paragliders and I head back to the hotel and meet up with our classmates, all of whom venture into the city for one last shopping adventure. Feeling tranquil, I instead opt to lay by the waterfall pool, dozing off to the sunset, waiting for the hour that I must board the plane to whisk me away from my Peruvian dream.

Oliver is one of many University of Washington Foster School of Business MBA students who studied abroad in 2011. Learn more about MBA study and work abroad opportunities.

Guest post by Oliver Huslid, Evening MBA student

Silicon Valley of Peru
Microsoft Peru rents space from an unassuming office building in the heart of the city. Because this particular satellite branch only does Sales, it does not have the need for a sprawling complex like that in Redmond.  The immediate surrounding area has a new and modern feel to it. The architecture of the buildings showcases their glass and clean concrete. Because Microsoft’s neighbors include HP, Cisco, Oracle, and Google, it’s no wonder they call this area the “Silicon Valley of Peru.”

Coffee co-op
We visited Café Villa Rica, a co-op of coffee-growers in the Villa Rica region. Headquarters were located inside an unmarked office building in a sleepy residential area of Lima. Café Villa Rica is a privately owned and privately funded since local banks do not trust farmland as good collateral for loans.  They grow, pick, and process their own beans to ensure quality. Unfortunately, Peru does not yet have a big coffee-drinking culture, so most of their beans are exported to coffee-drinking nations like the United States. Café Villa Rica sells about 60% of its beans to Starbucks, where their acidic, earthy beans are mixed with Kenyan beans to balance out some flavors for Starbucks’ customers.

Copper mining
We walk around the corner to visit the headquarters of Southern Peru Copper Corporation, a copper mining corporation with extraction sites in Peru and Mexico. The copper industry enjoys high margins and an accelerating demand from developing countries like China. Year over year EBITDA is in the triple billions for this particular company despite issues with strikes, corrupt unions, and increasing environmental backlash.

Though recent demand slowed in 2009 due to lagging construction needs in the global sphere, demand has picked up pace again in 2010. As one of the largest mining companies in the world, Southern Peru Copper Corporation mines a diversity of minerals and metals, like molybdenum, zinc, and others.

Peru’s national economy
We began one day with a visit to the Ministry of Foreign Relations, where we are treated to an exposition on the strengths of Peru’s economy.

Many of the charts convey dramatic increases of key exports in the past decade, highlighting Peru’s rapid expansion and growing presence in the global trade arena. Peru’s modern approach to global economics has earned it crucial free trade agreements with a large number of countries, including the United States and much of Europe. The impact of these decisions has improved the standard of life for Peruvians substantially, as evidenced by the poverty level dropping from 50% to about 35% over the past decade.

One major weakness of Peru’s economy that they are trying to remedy is overreliance on exporting to the United States and other developed nations. The other major weakness of Peru’s economy is heavy saturation of mining companies. This trait of the Peruvian economy makes it vulnerable to fluctuating commodity prices for metals and minerals.

Oliver is one of many University of Washington Foster School of Business MBA students who studied abroad in 2011. Learn more about MBA study and work abroad opportunities.