[16] The project was funded partially through a US$410,000 grant from the Ford Foundation,[16] which was an active promoter of Alliance for Progress[17] — a United States program that attempted to counterbalance Communist influence in Latin America (particularly in the aftermath of the Cuban Revolution) by sponsoring economic and social development in the region.

[18] Similar agreements, aiming to provide "advanced training for faculty members from business schools in emerging countries"[19] had funded the Getulio Vargas Foundation of Brazil (1954),[20] ESAN in Peru (1962),[19] and INCAE (originally in Nicaragua, 1964).

[22] Such encouraging results allowed its first director, Wharton alumnus Jaime Alonso Gómez, to become the first Latin American scholar in history to be named 'Dean of the Year' by the Academy of International Business.

They shared the same academic curricula but, as peripheral institutions bound to local campuses, found themselves replicating organization structures and forced to seek costly international accreditation individually.

[9] The EGADE Business School is affiliated to the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM), one of the largest private, coeducational and secular universities in Latin America.

Its operations and long-term vision are overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Carlos Salazar Lomelín, CEO of FEMSA: the largest public bottler of Coca-Cola products in the world in sales volume.