B-UIC 17

News from the market
Who is Jordi Aranega?
I was student representative of the first graduating class of Business
Administration and Management at UIC Barcelona.Since my time at
university, I have always wanted to start new projects. In fact, during
my time at UIC Barcelona, I managed the AIESEC office alongside
my classmates from other degree programmes and courses. It
was an international student association that sent students to do
internships around the world.
When I graduated, I went to live in Australia as I wanted to improve
my English and experience life outside of Spain, which was a very
enriching and ultimately life-changing experience.
When I got back, I started a small business with a classmate,
which is when another kind of learning began, putting theory into
practice. Since then, I have spent years working in consultancy
and for a technology centre, managing its subsidiaries, as well as
starting my own projects.
Interview with
Jordi Aranega
Vice president & board member of
Hengrui Corporation (HRC)
UIC Barcelona class of 2001
Jordi dovetails his current position as vice
president of Hengrui Corporation (HRC) with
other responsibilities that demonstrate his highly
entrepreneurial mindset. He is also a consultant for
the Startup Catalonia accelerator network, a Board
Director at Successful Fund and a founding member
of the BCN Port Innovation Board of Trustees.
He completed his Executive MBA at IESE Business
School in 2009 and was awarded the prize for Best
Young Entrepreneur by Junior Chamber International
(JCI). In 2017, he received the IESE recognition of
“Founder under 40”. In 2018, he studied Private Equity
and Venture Capital at Harvard Business School.
By Cristina Prats
You are vice president of the multinational Hengrui
Corporation. Tell us more about your experience as a
businessman and as an entrepreneur.
In 2014, a UIC Barcelona alumnus from another year told me about
his vision of launching a Tier 1 automotive supplier in China to
make carbon fibre parts. A revolution was about to take place in
the automotive world due to the electric car boom and the need to
reduce CO2 emissions.
After a lot of hard work and personal effort, today Hengrui
Corporation is a leader in the Asian market, with 1,500 employees
in our offices in Asia and Europe.
There is no secret other than working hard and surrounding
yourself with the right people. We have always tried to work with the
best technology to gain a competitive edge, but the most important
asset of any project or company is human capital.
We are writing about our company alongside Professor Pedro
Nueno from IESE, which, as an alumnus, I am very excited about.
The hope is to publish in the journals of IESE, CEIBS and Harvard.
How would you describe your experience at UIC Barcelona
and how has it impacted your career?
We were the first graduating class; we were there at the beginning.
A small family, lucky to form part of the history of that programme.
We were being led by some truly great minds, both in terms of
Tell us more about yourself
A phrase that represents you
The worst they can say is “no”.
22 — B-UIC