My name is Andres Lopez Mena, I was born and raised in Bogotá, Colombia, and I am 22 years old. Recently, scrolling through my TikTok feed, I had the opportunity to hear a speech that Lou Nanni gave. In it, he said: “If we, the 1% that have access to high-quality education are not thinking about the 99% in the process, then we’ve lost our boat.” I truly find meaning in his words. Throughout my life, I aim to use my education to serve a greater purpose than my own personal hike. Growing up in Colombia has allowed me to witness vast disparity, the aftermath of an armed conflict, and political corruption, among other problems. These injustices fuel my desire to use my knowledge to contribute to my country’s prosperity.
I was impressed by the influence remarkable philanthropists had in Colombia through the pandemic. They showed that doing business and serving the greater good go hand-in-hand. Creating labor, helping families thrive, and bringing innovation to my country is something I genuinely desire. Blending my passion for business, service, and technology, my life goal is to build a company that in the near future positively impacts fellow Colombians, and eventually, the world.
WHY DUKE?
During high school, I realized that the first step to have an impact in the world, from my point of view, is a solid education. That is why I decided to join Duke for my undergraduate education. I felt Duke’s demanding curriculum would challenge my intellectual capacity and fulfill my hunger for knowledge. Moreover, when choosing Duke an important factor was its Liberal Arts philosophy which I felt would allow me to explore my academic interests: Entrepreneurship, Finance, Computer Science, and Psychology, among others.
Four years later... I am a senior at Duke majoring in Computer Science, minoring in Finance and pursuing the certificate in Innovation & Entrepreneurship. I am deeply fulfilled by my education and incredibly grateful to Duke for allowing me to explore my academic interests and passions.
THE I&E CERTIFICATE
The I&E department at Duke has allowed me to deeply explore my entrepreneurial interests. During my sophomore fall, I took my first course, I&E 290: Product Management, which has been one of my favorite courses at Duke so far. I learned that a PM’s role is akin to being the CEO of a product within a company. I find it truly fascinating to think critically about how to build a product that customers love.
Later, I took CS 216: Everything is Data as an elective for the certificate. This course provided me with technical knowledge crucial for the tech and startup world since, as the name suggests, everything ultimately revolves around data.
Two other favorite courses of mine are the certificate’s core classes: I&E 352 and I&E 499. These MBA-style courses involved analyzing case studies each week, discussing challenges faced by founders, and exploring how they navigated successes and failures. I found it fascinating to dissect real-world scenarios and learn from their outcomes. Overall, the I&E Certificate has provided me with diverse, invaluable knowledge about entrepreneurship and has significantly enriched my experience at Duke.
What I especially loved about these I&E classes was applying the knowledge I gained to real-world experiences. When I arrived at Duke as a freshman, I was running a startup, Blue See Glasses, an e-commerce business I started in high school that sold and distributed anti-blue light glasses in Colombia. I spent my freshman year managing this business, which taught me a lot about social media (we grew our Instagram page to 12.9k followers), financial management (cash flow, P&L), CRM, negotiating with suppliers, logistics, and more. However, as it was a seasonal product, demand declined as the pandemic faded, and we ultimately decided to shut it down. More about Blue See Glasses
During my freshman year, driven by my passion for startups, I also co-founded Dandy The Move Inc, a social media event-planning app designed to centralize shared student experiences and connect venues with customers. We raised capital from Nahual Ventures, hosted over 100+ events on the app, and achieved more than 3,000 downloads across our target schools. Despite these achievements, I eventually decided to shut it down. I’ll share more about this experience in the experiential learning section of the portfolio since Dandy was my 300-hour activity,
After shutting down Dandy during my junior year, I worked part time at Palomma, a Y Combinator startup run by Duke alumni and based in Medellín, Colombia. This fintech company focuses on bringing AI and payment solutions to the real estate sector in Colombia. Through all these experiences, I was able to apply many of the concepts I learned in my I&E classes, and I am incredibly grateful for the certificate program.
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