Jorge Luis Astorga Macedo (English)

Jorge is a young Mexican passionate about new challenges and the search for opportunities that lead him to fulfill his biggest goals in life.

‘Since my visit to Washington D.C. with the Builders program, something in me changed, creating a constant challenge to overcome myself and always get out of the comfort zone, always have confidence in my ideas. I understood that I saw opportunities while others saw risks and that concept led me to always be the person who questions, who proposes, who bothers, but also who proposes solutions and who is empathetic in understanding the perspective of the people around me, I have always been guided by a sense of leadership in which a short, medium and long term objective is always set.’

His trajectory towards goals has never been linear; each curve in his path has represented an opportunity and an adventure full of unforeseen events and riddles that have allowed him to develop his skills. He has worked as a milk seller, in cafeterias, in corporate telecommunications sales, selling medical supplies to government hospitals, and as a seller of oximeters and thermometers during the pandemic. He has also been a seller in a toy store and of food for his dentist colleagues at the university, as well as dental material and supplies. In all these jobs, the common denominator has been the sale of products or services to meet needs or solve problems.

In 2015, the institutions responsible for overseeing the economic development of Mexico City, such as FONDESO (Social Development Fund) and SEDECO (Economic Development Secretariat), hired Gallup to implement a test to detect entrepreneurial talent in CDMX. As a result, 15,000 students from public high schools took the test, of which 60 had the 10 entrepreneurial talents at high levels compared to the average (0.4% of the sample). These 60 students had to present a business project and pitch it to their school authorities, who, together with Gallup, selected the 6 finalists. These 6 finalists had the opportunity for a trip paid by Gallup to Washington D.C., where they presented their pitch to Jim Clifton, who was the CEO of Gallup at that time.

After Gallup’s trip, he studied the career of dental surgeon at the Faculty of Higher Studies Zaragoza of the UNAM, where he learned to practice with perfection and to intervene in the health-disease process of the population, analyzing three fundamental factors: social, psychological and clinical.

Photo above: Trip won by Jorge to Washington D.C. to visit the Gallup offices and meet Jim Clifton, as one of the 6 finalists out of 15,000 young participants.

He understood that this profession is his passion and provides him with an incomparable personal satisfaction. It allows him to include vulnerable groups in his daily practice as a seller and provide comprehensive medical care, analyzing each individual and their environment to meet their needs and find the best solutions to cure their diseases. He efficiently uses time and resources to reverse the damage caused by the abandonment of the health sector and the lack of disease prevention.

He currently practices his profession with enthusiasm and success in Almoloya de Juárez, State of Mexico, in a rural area. He has integrated into his work team two assistants and two dental surgeons, including himself, to attend to the high demand of patients seeking dental services. He emphasizes that he works in a remote community where he has been well accepted and recognized by the inhabitants of the region. As he mentioned at the beginning, he firmly believes that small goals add up to achieve larger objectives.

‘If you don’t believe in yourself, nobody will.’

In 2024, Jorge reconnected with the Clifton Foundation and the Global Builders Network. He was able to join us at our first annual event, the “Builder Summit,” held at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. There, he had the opportunity to meet other builders from the United States and Colombia who also attended the event.

At this event, our Pitch Competition took place, and he won $3,000 to support his dental practice in Mexico.

We hope he returns for the “Builder Summit” in Omaha, Nebraska in 2025 and can share with us the progress he has made in his business and how he has used the prize.