Freddy Ñañez

I was born in Ica. At 3, my mom took me with her to the highlands, where she already worked. My dad, my sisters, and my uncle stayed behind; we saw them on visits and holidays. I grew up with my mom and my grandma.

Kindergarten through school, all of it there. The mountains as my backyard. My first business was Taps toys bought in the city and resold in my town.

I was admitted to a COAR (Colegio de Alto Rendimiento), where Peru takes its best students for a high-rigor, high-quality education with international standards, on a full scholarship with boarding. We studied under the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. I came from a school where the level was low, and adapting was hard. But I loved it. I loved learning there was so much more out there. Top 10% of my class.

I got into the best university in the country, top 10 in Latin America, without really knowing what to study. I chose Business Management. The first two years were a process of discovery. Crises over what to study, what to give my life to, what my purpose was. I liked philosophy so much I almost switched majors. I was afraid to move forward without being sure of what I really liked, but I trusted the process and dared to try more things along the way. Fun fact: before finding my passion I was a youth parliamentarian for my region, a UN volunteer, and a few other things.

I entered the Faculty of Management, top 5%. I discovered innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship. Hult Prize, START Lima, bootcamps, events. I felt I had found what I was passionate about. I taught myself to code with Harvard's CS50 while people asked why a business student would bother.

Board member of the largest student-run entrepreneurship and tech initiative. I led the Road to START Fellowship, with 300+ applicants and two Peruvian admissions to the Switzerland program. One of the spaces where I grew the most, and where I made friends who pushed me to outdo myself every day.

I looked for my first internship almost full-time for over half a year. Several rejections. I reached the final round of the one I wanted most, and didn't get it either.

After all those noes, the yes arrived. I landed the job I dreamed of, open innovation intern at the largest bank in Peru. I talked with startups every day, learned their business models and their founders, and spent all my time thinking about what initiatives we could bring to the bank. Amazing.

My first hackathon, no technical background. Second place out of 800+ applicants at the National AI Hackathon. With my team I built LuzIA.

Stanford d.school and the Design Lab at Twente.

I built Sift in 36 hours, an autonomous AI agent that sources and compares suppliers on its own.

U.S. State Department scholar. Columbus, Chicago, Washington D.C.

My agency, and the first thing I gave everything to instead of splitting myself five ways. An AI-first growth agency. We help businesses grow through technology.