Global Experience

During the Spring semester of my sophomore year, an event occurred that launched the entire trajectory of my career. On April 20th, 2017, The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), a top ten investment bank in the United States and number one firm in its home country, extended me an internship offer. Just two weeks later, I was on my way to the first week of training in their Toronto office. All my preconceptions of this experience were based off networking events with American firms, which differ in culture drastically from their international counterparts. To begin, the transparency at this Canadian firm, demonstrated on the first day when the COO came to address us, was higher than I could ever anticipate. Furthermore, what I came to realize the following week on my desk, was that many more international clients are in RBC’s portfolio than many American competitors.

 

The desk I interned with for two consecutive summers focuses on the Consumer & Retail industry. This includes subsectors such as apparel, hard goods, food & beverage, restaurants and retail. The first one I dove into was retail, when my staffer from Russia asked me to translate the financial statements for a client based in Mexico. The company, Grupo Comercial Chedraui S. a.B. DE C.V. owns a subsidiary called Bodega Latina Corp., a Hispanic-focused grocer that does business as “El Super”. They asked us to advise them on a potential acquisition of Fiesta Mart LLC, another Hispanic-focused grocer that would help expand their geographic footprint, management teams and market knowledge.

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After translating their statements, I performed due diligence by looking at their Confidential Information Memorandum (CIM) and Marketing Materials. This was to help decide how meaningful the potential synergies would be and how much the transaction was worth. Speaking with Carlos Smith, the president and CEO of Bodega Latina, was just a fraction of the unmatched exposure I received during my first summer. I also completed an investor update for Hain Celestial, a food company that has two of its four business segments focused outside the U.S., as well as a full-scale valuation of the Cheesecake Factory, which has over 200 locations worldwide. My time at RBC showed me that by working at an international company, I could directly impact several countries. The business are much more than retailers and suppliers – they shape the way societies work and I was at the forefront of their investment decisions.

 

Though the industry will switch from financial services to technology, the principle remains the same; working with a company that strives to impact the entire globe is exactly where I want to be. So far, I have directly worked with companies who have a presence in Colombia, Canada, Mexico, Spain, Italy, France, China and more. This list will only get longer as I begin my next journey with Microsoft, which was attributable in large part due to the perspective this program has helped me develop.