Entrepreneurs worldwide understand that their work can change the world. Claudia Duran, Regional Managing Director of North America and at Endeavor Miami, believes high-impact entrepreneurship catalyzes economic growth. Her career has spanned several progressive roles across various sectors. Duran has shown that her versatile expertise and commitment to promoting entrepreneurial growth can take someone far.
A Unique Cultural Background
A financial professional by training, Duran’s educational background includes a Bachelor’s in Finance from Penn State University and an MBA from Instituto de Empresa (IE), a prestigious school in Madrid. Her education would equip her with a solid financial background and prepare her for the complexities of global business management.
Duran began her career with SABMiller in El Salvador and gained an introduction to the global beverage community, which would lay the groundwork for her eventual multifaceted career.
Pivots Beyond the Beverage Industry
Duran eventually pivoted to aviation, joining TACA International Airlines, now part of AVIANCA. While there, she undertook significant projects throughout the Americas, using her multilingual understanding of Spanish, English, Italian, and Portuguese to help launch various projects, such as VOLARIS in Mexico.
Duran would later venture into the non-profit sector and use her leadership skills to help lead Ashoka, a renowned Brazilian organization supporting social entrepreneurs. Her ability to inspire change and foster a community of leaders has led to her commitment to making a difference.
A Return to Duran’s Entrepreneurial Roots
Upon returning to her entrepreneurial roots, Duran used her understanding of business dynamics to steer her family’s business toward significant financial improvements. This understanding, which allowed her to enact transformational change, allowed her to shape Endeavor Miami as its Managing Director.
Established in 2013 as the first U.S. affiliate office of the global organization, Endeavor Miami has supported entrepreneurs who generated over $900 million in revenue in 2024. The organization comprises 64 high-impact entrepreneurs leading 40 companies and 96 dedicated mentors across various industries. In addition, Endeavor hosted over 40 networking events in 2024 and filled 7,350 positions in Florida last year.
Endeavor’s values, which include going big, creating a network of trust, and being unified by the belief in the power of tech-enabled innovation, have helped shape the entrepreneurial landscape by painstakingly probing markets to identify candidates who lead innovative companies and who solve real problems at a significant scale.
Reaching New Levels
Under her leadership and deep belief in high-impact entrepreneurship, Duran has helped enhance the Miami office’s impact and reach. Her role involves nurturing a thriving community of entrepreneurs, through which she leverages her extensive experience and her innate understanding of entrepreneurial leadership to help people reshape entrepreneurial ecosystems in emerging and underserved markets worldwide.
“The most meaningful part of my work is seeing how one entrepreneur’s success can ignite a ripple effect across entire communities,” Duran says. “We’re not just scaling businesses, we’re scaling impact, we are creating multipliers, and that’s what drives me every day.”
Claudia Duran’s skills showcase her global perspective and ability to connect with diverse stakeholders. Through her commitment to leveraging businesses as forces for good, she allows herself to be guided by her entrepreneurial spirit, which was instilled within her by her parents. Duran uses the enrichment of her diverse experiences across industries and cultures to help shape the lives of those around her.
