Digital leadership and entrepreneurship in Panama
Founder and CEO, EtyaLab
Panama’s technology sector got a boost when Susana Lau (ENG 2015) brought fresh perspectives back from her Fulbright-funded studies at Carnegie Mellon, where she earned a Master of Science in Information Technology.
“I came back to Panama with a new focus on software engineering and services. I studied scrum and agile methodologies at CMU, which I applied with clients here. It’s not trendy now, but then it was innovative in the local consulting and IT industries,” she says.
Susana’s approach evolved into her business, EtyaLab, a firm specializing in digital transformation through mobile applications, web platforms, websites, e-commerce systems and tailor-made digital products. In the past 10 years, she grew the company to a team of 20 staff. Today, it’s a trusted name in technology in Panama and growing across Latin America.
Susana is active with consulting and mentoring startups around innovation, especially through a range of roles with IEEE. She co-founded the CREEA Foundation to foster civic engagement entrepreneurship in Panama.
Her parents immigrated to Panama from China, and she points to after-school help in their small family store as the origin of her entrepreneurial spirit.
“I grew up seeing my parents being business people on a small scale, then at school my vision to make something of myself met the Silicon Valley/startup mindset. That put me where I am today, and leading by example especially for younger generations,” she says.
Story by Elizabeth Speed