This weekend MIT Sloan hosted four symposiums: MIT Real Estate Symposium, MIT Sloan Africa 2.0 Conference, MIT Private Equity Symposium and MIT Latin American Conference. Although I wanted to attend all four symposiums, three of them were hosted on the same day, so I could only attend two. I organized the MIT Real Estate Symposium, so naturally I was there, and I was also at the MIT Latin American Conference yesterday, which was absolutely phenomenal.
The MIT 2011 Real Estate Symposium
The MIT Real Estate Symposium was the first joint-venture between the Alumni Association of the
Center for Real Estate and the MIT Sloan Real Estate Club. We hosted the event at a very symbolic space at the newly completed Atlantic Wharf Development in downtown Boston.
We had a cool unfinished space for the Symposium on the 11th floor with a nice view of downtown Boston. The event went very smoothly and we achieved record crowd at the event this year. Leading academic and industry leaders gave us insights on the state of the real estate market and emerging opportunities in the challenged environment.
MIT Latin American Conference: From Potential To Reality
I had a great day yesterday at the MIT Latin American Conference. The MIT Latin American Conference is the oldest Latin American Conference among U.S. universities. The event was hosted at MIT Sloan, and they had an amazing line-up of speakers including some of my favorite Latin American leaders including Angel Gurria (Secretary-General of OCED) and Alvaro Uribe (39th President of Colombia), so I had to attend.
Angel Gurria kicked off the Symposium with an amazing keynote speech on the opportunities, as well some challenges that Latin America faces going forward (e.g. inclusive growth - participation, equal access, opportunity for all; education, boosting productivity and innovation, better infrastructure). He talked about issues of ineqaulity (1/3 of LatAm people fall below the poverty line and the middle portion is vulnerable to downward mobility) and how fiscal systems should address this problem. He also spoke of the PISA initiative (described by Obama as a sputnik moment) and what Latin America can learn from it.
The opening keynote was followed by panels on CEO Perspectives, Private Equity, Sustainability and Entrepreneurship, as well as a keynote by Sergio Cabral Filho on the turnaround of Rio de Janeiro and the preparation for the World Cup and Olympic games.
The Symposium ended with a keynote address from President Alvaro Uribe, who transformed Colombia through his fight against illegal armed groups and implementing various macroeconomic measures. He spoke of the key lessons that can be learned from Colombia's economic and social transformation. He talked about his view on progressive democracy (security, freedom, social cohesion, independent institutions but in particular, election should not be confused with democracy and specifically, security -> international investments -> social cohesion and development), the importance of market access to Colombia for investor confidence, and perserverance in the face of tough times ("hesitation gives terrorists psychological victims").
The Symposium was truly fantastic. The organizers did a superb job putting the event together and I learned so much from it.
Unfortunately I couldn't attend the Private Equity Symposium (www.pesymposium.com) and the African Business Conference (http://web.mit.edu/sloanafrica/africaconference.html), but I heard great things about them from my fellow classmates as well. What a great weekend!
