Diego Clavero
INCAE Business School
Venture name: THE KITCHEN
Date of founding: 2021
Program: INCAE Executive MBA
Tell us about your career background : I am originally from Spain and have been living in Costa Rica for around 13 years. I have worked in the kitchen cabinets industry for more than 20 years, mainly across sales, design, project development and commercial management. After the financial crisis, I moved to China for one year to develop a business selling German kitchen cabinets in the Chinese market. It was my first major international experience and taught me a lot about adapting a business model to a new country.
After that, I moved with my family to Costa Rica and joined one of the largest kitchen cabinet companies in the country. The company had its own factory and a strong position in the market. I worked there for several years and became commercial manager, working closely with clients, developers and construction companies. Professionally, things were going well, but I wanted to grow beyond the commercial side of the business and develop a broader understanding of finance, operations and management.
What is your business/venture? THE KITCHEN is a kitchen cabinets company based in Costa Rica. We supply high quality kitchen cabinets imported from Spain, working with individual clients, residential projects, construction companies and developers. The business combines European design and product quality with a strong understanding of the Costa Rican market. Because I had spent many years in the sector before founding the company, I knew what clients needed, what developers expected and where there was room to offer a better service. At the beginning, we worked mainly project by project, often with individual clients or smaller developments. The company has grown a lot since then. Today, we have the team, systems and experience to manage larger residential developments, including projects of 40, 80 and now around 200 homes. We are currently doing more than 800 kitchens a year and preparing to go beyond 1,000.
What inspired you to found this business? The idea came from my experience in the kitchen cabinets sector and the confidence I gained during the EMBA. I knew the industry very well. I understood the clients, the suppliers, the products and the commercial side of the business. What I needed was a broader understanding of how to manage a company as a whole. During the EMBA, I met many people who had started businesses or managed companies. They were people with similar responsibilities and challenges, and hearing their experiences made entrepreneurship feel more achievable. They shared what had worked, what had not worked and what they had learnt along the way. That had a real impact on me.
Then Covid arrived, and the market became very difficult. At that point, I realised I had the experience, the contacts and the tools to start my own company. That was when I decided to launch THE KITCHEN.
Why did you enrol on the EMBA? I enrolled on the EMBA because I wanted to grow beyond the role I had at the time. I was commercial manager at a kitchen cabinets company in Costa Rica and had built strong experience in sales, clients and commercial strategy. But after several years, I felt I had reached a ceiling.
I wanted to understand the parts of business I had not studied deeply before, especially finance, operations, people management and strategy. When you work for many years in one area, you naturally see the company through that function. I wanted to see the full picture and understand how all the different parts of a company connect.
I chose INCAE because of its reputation and the strength of its network. In the region especially, INCAE carries real weight. You meet people who are leading companies, building businesses and making decisions across different industries. That was very important to me, because I wanted to learn from experienced professionals, not only from the classroom. The Executive MBA format also allowed me to keep working while studying, which made it the right choice for that stage of my career.
How has the EMBA helped you/your business? The EMBA helped me start and manage my own company with much more confidence. Before the Program, I had strong commercial experience, but I did not feel as prepared in finance, operations and wider business management. The EMBA gave me a 360 degree view of how a company works. That has been very important for THE KITCHEN. As an entrepreneur, you have to make decisions across the whole business, from pricing and cash flow to suppliers, logistics, teams, growth and client relationships. The Program gave me tools to analyse those decisions more clearly and think more strategically.
The network has also been valuable. The INCAE community is very strong. When you meet someone who also studied there, there is already a level of trust and recognition. It does not mean business happens automatically, but people listen differently, and in sectors like construction and development, that credibility matters.
What’s the one thing about the EMBA that you think is undervalued? The confidence it gives you is very undervalued. People often talk about the academic content, the professors, the network and the school’s reputation, and all of those things matter. But for me, the biggest change was the way I saw myself professionally.
Before the EMBA, I understood the commercial part of a company very well, but other areas felt more distant. During the Program, that changed gradually. You learn finance, operations, people management and strategy, and you begin to see how all those areas connect.
By the end, you feel able to look at a company as a whole. That gave me the confidence to do bigger things. In my case, it helped me move from being a commercial manager to founding and leading my own business.
What’s next for your business? The next stage for THE KITCHEN is structured growth. We have been operating for several years and the company has developed a lot. At the beginning, we focused mainly on individual clients and smaller projects. Now we are moving into larger residential developments.
We have already worked on projects of 40 and 80 homes, and we are now preparing for developments and buildings of around 200 homes. That requires a stronger team, better systems and more operational discipline.
We are currently doing more than 800 kitchens a year, and the next goal is to move beyond 1,000 kitchens annually. The priority is to grow while maintaining quality, service and reliability. In this sector, reputation is essential, because developers need to know that you can deliver on time, manage complexity and solve problems.
Would you recommend the EMBA to other entrepreneurs? If yes, why? Yes, I would absolutely recommend the EMBA to other entrepreneurs. If you want to start a business, or if you already have one and want to improve it, the Program gives you tools you can use immediately.
As an entrepreneur, you need to understand the whole company. You have to connect sales, finance, operations, people and strategy. The EMBA helps you build that wider view and make better decisions.
The return is also very practical. You learn things in class, or from classmates, and you can apply them directly to your company. Sometimes it helps with financial decisions, sometimes with management, operations or growth.
I would especially recommend the Executive MBA format because of the people you study with. Many classmates have significant experience, and a large part of the learning comes from them. They share real problems, real decisions and real lessons, which is extremely valuable for entrepreneurs.
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