Xavier López Ancona is a Mexican entrepreneur. He is the founder, president and chief executive officer of KidZania since its inception in 1999. López was ranked in the list of the most successful entrepreneurs in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

according to ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

''. Prior to his current position, he was the director of

venture capital Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to start-up company, startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in ...

for General Electric Capital. He has a bachelor's degree in

Business Administration Business administration is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. Overview The administration of a business includes the performance o ...

from Anahuac University, a master's degree in administration from the Pan-American Institute of Business Administration ( IPADE) in Mexico, and an MBA from the

Kellogg Graduate School of Management The Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management (branded as Northwestern Kellogg) is the graduate business school of Northwestern University, a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. History Early history (1908–1950 ...

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

Personal life

Xavier Lopez Ancona Martinez was born in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

. His father, Isidro Lopez Martinez, worked at a variety of businesses, largely in the food industry and real estate. His mother was a housewife who raised seven children. As child, he wanted to be a magician, and performed in nursing homes and orphanages. He later did a year of high school in

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa ( ) is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, second-most-populous city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the List of United States cities by population, 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The po ...

. López comes from a large family. He has no children, but he has 16 nephews and enjoys taking them on trips, skiing and diving.

Education

López has a bachelor's degree in business administration from Anahuac University in Mexico City, a master's degree in administration from the Pan-American Institute of Business Administration (IPADE), and an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.

Business career

When his father's real estate company in the San Juan Ixhuatepec area went bankrupt in 1984, López supported his father. As a result, he was given the task of selling most of the properties to avoid large losses. López studied marketing under

Philip Kotler Philip Kotler (born May 27, 1931) is an American marketing author, consultant, and professor emeritus; the S. C. Johnson & Son Distinguished Professor of International Marketing at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University ( ...

, while working toward his master's degree. Kotler's classes, leadership and knowledge were key factors when López decided to start and launch the concept of KidZania. In 1999, Ancona founded Kidzania with the goal of making entertainment inclusive, as well as to increase its educational value. One of the most important lessons López learned during the process of taking KidZania from an entrepreneurial project to a

multinational company A multinational corporation (MNC; also called a multinational enterprise (MNE), transnational enterprise (TNE), transnational corporation (TNC), international corporation, or stateless corporation, is a corporate organization that owns and cont ...

was that businesses and cities are highly intertwined.

Kidzania

Kidzania has had 10 million site visits to date as of May 2017. Due to the success of the Mexico City park, López plans to open more parks in the U.S.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lopez Ancona, Xavier 1964 births Living people Mexican businesspeople