Diego Ramos Rosas, 18 – Business Plan
Chullo’s
Montezuma, New Mexico/Peru

"We can always go beyond our limits, we can reach almost anything—only the deep desire to change things added to determination and discipline can be the way to success."

Diego Ramos Rosas is a student at United World College of the American West, which is a high school in the European system that prepares international students for college in the U.S. He developed his business plan for Chullo’s in the NFTE program there.

Diego is from Peru, and Chullo’s will import alpaca wool hats from Peru and sell them on Ebay. “Alpaca wool is warmer than normal sheep wool,” he says. His products will be 100% alpaca, which makes them higher quality than the more common alpaca and synthetic fiber blends. “If my plan succeeds, I would like to expand by selling other clothing and accessories made of alpaca wool,” he says.

Diego wants to implement his business plan in the fall. He says his plan benefits Peruvian weavers, many of whom come from “poor backgrounds.” Diego also intends to donate a percentage of the business’s annual income to Save the Children, a nonprofit organization which benefits children around the world.

He has had to adapt to not one but two different cultures and languages. In 2004 Diego spent a year in Germany as a guest student at a German school. He found immersion in the language and culture difficult, even though he had attended a German school in Peru. “I was exposed to different traditions, and cultural differences, such as the direct way Germans approach problems, which were initially difficult to understand.” The experience taught him to work hard and “to keep the spirit of a warrior and a winner,” he says. It stood him in good stead for his work in the English language and American culture at UWC.

Diego hopes to attend Princeton University or Oxford University.