“My advice? Open your minds!” Alessandro Petrich is a recent LUISS Management graduate that will speak about his experience in Rio de Janeiro during the LUISS in Brazil event on Monday, November 23.
"Ever since I was a child I wanted to go to Brazil. My grandmother was from São Paulo and she would always tell me amazing stories about her country. Now I can say that it was all true.”
Alessandro spend a semester at the Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV). I still remember the day Brazil was added to the list of exchange programs. I was in France on an Erasmus program in Lyon, and just out of curiosity I looked at the application information for the following year: and there was Rio. The first thing I thought was that I had to go.”
“From that moment, all the energy I put into my studies was directed at being selected for the exchange in Brazil,” explains Alessandro. “I read everything I could about FGV and all the opinions were positive: it’s a large business school with quality didactics. Each lesson was a 3-4 hour session once a week, leaving students time to study autonomously or organize group work.”
After completing his coursework, Alessandro performed a three-month internship at incubator Startup Rio as a Research Project Assistant. “I asked my Entrepreneurship professor at FGV to collaborate in a project launch, and having Brazilian citizenship, I was allowed to stay. I was in charge of developing an assessment model for the incubator and mentoring startups.”
During his experience, Alessandro was struck by the Brazilian work mentality. “I used to imagine that Brazil was just beaches, samba and soccer, when in reality workers there work hard, even late into the night. Moreover, young people are so motivated to free themselves from precariousness and poverty.”
To Alessandro, one of the most important aspects of this experience was: “How much coming in contact with different people and worlds opens your mind. Studying and working alongside motivated students that were curious about comparing our approaches was highly stimulating. Once back in Italy, I immediately had the opportunity to perform an internship with Italian Angels for Growth in Milan which helped me launch Startup Grind Roma, for which I currently serve as chapter director.”
In Alessandro’s opinion, the partnership between LUISS and Brazil is an important project that can be a two-way bridge for best practices and collaboration. Italian and Brazilian people are very close and connected to each other.”
On November 23, Alessandro will talk about his experience to LUISS students with fellow alumnus Giuseppe Macca: “Brazil is an opportunity to give your life an electric shock and to grow culturally. I was completely struck by this country, from its culture to its people and the infinite variety of experiences you can have there. Obviously, it is important to say that it’s not for everyone: you must have a strong ability to adapt and be open to the idea of shaping your culture around Brazil’s, welcoming it, and living it.”