On March 24, the Wharton Latin American Conference (WHALAC) was held at the Penn Museum. Panel topics ranged from the football world to expanding in Latin America. 

Verónica Ruiz del Vizo, the CEO of Working on Solutions, moderated the panel “Female Business Leaders in LatAm: What it takes to be successful.” Rosanna Ramos-Velita, chair of the Wharton School Executive Board for Latin America, Member of the Board of Governors of the Lander Institute and Chairman of the Board of LOS ANDES, spoke on the panel. 

Ramos-Velita, who graduated from Wharton with a MBA in International Finance in 1992, is one of the conference’s founding members.

“I was telling Verónica that my purpose these days after so many years of experience, hard earned success and many failures. That, I think it’s the most important thing I could do is to give back to you, especially young women coming up and share with you my experiences so you can trace your own path,” said Ramos-Velita. 

WHALAC’s mission is to “establish an open and multicultural forum to generate and discuss ideas about the future of Latin America. Debate key business opportunities and challenges of our region” and to “generate a concrete path forward toward economic development, social equality, and political stability.”

Ramos-Velita holds four degrees; a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of North Dakota, an MS in Electrical Engineering from Lehigh University, and an MA in International Business from Joseph H. Lauder Institute. 

Previously, she worked as an Investment Banker at Bankers Trust and UBS and was a Senior Executive at Citigroup (CFO of Global Marketing and Director of Strategic Initiatives for Global Consumer Group.) She also founded the eLuminas Capital Group with a Wharton classmate. 

Talking about her time as a “baby investment banker” she said, “My job was to make them and review them… opening up markets, all the great things we learn here, and are so valuable in our capitalistic model.”

She added, “One variable that always bothered me was the level of poverty in my country, my home country, and in the region. And that remained a nagging feeling inside of me, because we never spoke about it, we only spoke about return for investors, we only spoke about expanding capital markets. But I never really understood how all of this was going to make a difference at the base of the pyramid.” 

She went from investment banking to acquiring a Latin American bank.

Ramos-Velita commented that she and a friend tried to get venture capital for the U.S. Latino market too soon. When they went to investors, they were turned down because “nobody was buying into the potential.”

She worked with Dr. Muhammad Yunus, the Father of Microfinance, as a member of the Board of Directors, Treasurer and Chair of the Latin American and Caribbean Advisory Council of Grameen Foundation. Microfinance “involves an extremely small loan given to an individual to help them become self-employed or grow a small business. These borrowers tend to be low-income individuals, especially from less developed countries.”

“When I met him, he was just trying to keep his NGO afloat. And he spoke to me as a banker, so I got what he was doing. But he touched my heart when he spoke about women, mothers, especially in places such as Bangladesh, that with these tiny loans, they can really change their lives and the lives of her children,” she explained.

“So then, at some point, moments, I knew, invited me to his board. I served on that board for 12 years, the world changed when he received the Nobel Prize,” continued Ramos-Velita.

She commented that her friends from Wharton were confused about why she would join his board and asked if it was a hobby. They changed their tune once he won a Nobel Prize and were impressed by his work. 

The panel also included a brief Q&A session, in which Ruiz del Vizo asked two questions that were made on ChatGPT, an AI chatbot.

One of these questions was “when you are building your team, what type of skills or the human soft skills are you looking for?”

The main thing Ramos-Velita needs her team members to have is empathy towards their clients. Since the mission of her bank is to help support people who want to get out of extreme poverty, her team needs to be understanding of the person’s situation and be able to put themselves in the person’s shoes.   

During the round of audience questions, Ramos-Velita was asked why she decided to set up her bank and microfinancing operation in Peru versus getting into the U.S. market and focusing on the U.S. Latino market. 

Part of her reason is that 50% of people in Peru don’t have access to a formal banking institution.

Another audience member asked how she establishes her credentials. This is in reference to a story she shared earlier, where a security guard at a swanky physio office thought she was the cleaning lady instead of a patient/patron. 

She gave two pieces of advice; feel confident and be aware of things that are happening. She added to the second piece that the person should have a clear value proposition when going into a situation, for example why they are a part of a certain discussion or what they are providing. 

In this phase of her life and career, Ramos-Velita is intent on empowering other women to break barriers and be successful in industries where there may not be many others just as she has done.