2015 Globalizer Buenos Aires - Strategy Thought Partners

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Origen: Ashoka

Alejandro Estrada

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Alejandro is a fintech Entrepreneur who has been active founding and advising companies in the last decade in Latin America and the USA. His expertise covers Credit Card Banking, online and mobile payments, financial mobile apps, advisory about financial products, and ETF in USA market. He belong to YPO and EO networks and is an investor and mentor at NXTP labs. He co-founded iBillionaire, a mobile app with over 200,000 users around the world that enables users to track the investment activities of financial billionaires with proven long term track record. He is also co-founder of Moni, a mobile and internet payments and financing company based in Argentina and expanding to other markets in the region.

 

Ana Mercedes Botero

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Ana Mercedes Botero, Special Advisor for Social Innovation for the Executive President of the CAF Development Bank of Latin America. She joined CAF as corporate secretary and later led the implementation of a community development office aimed at developing innovative tools of empowerment, capacity building and project management. In Colombia, she served as director of the Corona Foundation and worked with the Paralife group in the area of microinsurance. She holds Masters degrees in law and international relations at the University of Columbia in New York City. Ana has worked at the United Nations and in the foreign service of Colombia in negotiations on international security issues and illegal drug trafficking. She participates on the editorial committee of "Commitment and Transparency,” volunteers for the Special Olympics movement and was Global Leader of Tomorrow at the World Economic Forum in 1998.

 

 

Andrea de Colle

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Andrea de Colle is Value Engineering Industry Head for the Southern Region. She joined SAP Argentina in 1997 as Education Team Leader for the Southern Region and later served as Director of Innovation for SSSA and the Caribbean. She subsequently held the positions of Customer Support Manager, Field Operations Manager and Business Operations Manager. Prior to joining SAP, de Colle worked as Project Manager at Roche Argentina for 3 years. Andrea holds a degree in Systems Analysis CAECE University (Centre des Hautes Etudes en Sciences).

 

 

Carlos Gaviola

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Carlos is Argentine and French, born in Finland. He graduated with a degree in civil engineering from the Universidad Catolica of Buenos Aires and began working at Latinoconsult. He also has an MSc from the University of California, Berkeley and an MBA from the Berkeley Haas Business School. After 10 years in the US with ICF Kaiser Engineers, hired by FICO, he crossed the Atlantic and begin to work in Monaco opening branches and developing the customer base while discovering the new world of models and data analysis. Four years later, he moved to Paris where he worked at Business Objects, developing the Extranet line of business and indirect sales in the EMEA region and later at Experian, as director Southern Europe, and Strategic Accounts. Today he is Partner at VINAYA, a French company that develops and supports a portfolio of innovative technology SMEs.

 

 

Diego Luzuriaga

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Diego Luzuriaga is the Director of ITBA's Postgraduate School. He is also the director of the Master's program on Strategic and Technological Management at ITBA and the Escuela de Organización Industrial in Spain. Diego also co-founded Equitas Ventures, the first investment fund for sustainable projects in Argentina. He was co-founder and director of BtoBen, a network of Latin American e-commerce companies. He worked for Hermes Management Consulting, McKinsey & Company, Coca- Cola and Siemens. He holds an electronic engineer degree from ITBA and a master’s degree in Management of Technology from Sloan School of Management at MIT.

 

Fares Zaki

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Fares T. Zaki, an Egyptian national, is a Senior Manager at the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank Group. Fares is a graduate of Edinburgh University and the London School of Economics. He speaks six languages and has worked for IFC in Africa, North Africa, The Middle-East and South East Asia. He is currently managing the IFC Portfolio of Agribusiness, Health and Education, Manufacturing and Services for the Latin American continent. The US$2.6 billion committed portfolio is made of 155 client companies in 22 countries. The IFC mission is poverty reduction and shared prosperity through delivery development impact derived from private sector investments that are financially, environmentally and socially sustainable.

 

Frank Nieder

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Frank Nieder is an expert in the design and implementation of; (i) financial technologies and business models that expand access to financial services to underserved markets; and (ii) the legal, regulatory and policy environments, which promote the provision of these services and overall financial market development. Frank worked for over twenty at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), where he designed and managed programs to support both private and public sector initiatives in these areas throughout the Latin America. He has been a pioneer in identifying and realizing the potential of new financial technologies. For example, his programs supported the first five mobile financial service systems directed at the underbanked in the region, the testing of the initial alternative information credit scoring systems, as well as the design of model legal and regulatory reforms. Since leaving the IDB at the end of 2014, he has been working principally with financial service innovators to launch and scale-up their business models.

 

 

Gustavo Grobocopatel

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Gustavo Grobocopatel is an Agronomic Engineer. He graduated from Universidad de Buenos Aires in 1984, where he studied Soil Management. In 2000, he studied European Production Systems and Agriculture at the Iowa State University. Gustavo is the CEO of Grupo Los Grobo and Member of the Board at Bioceres S.A. (a biotechnology company). He is also a member of the Economic Council of Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, the Board of Escuelas del Bicententario, the International Council of Fundacion Don Cabral of Brazil and the International Council of EGADE - TEC de Monterrey (Mexico). Gustavo is a Board Member of various business associations, such as Asociación Empresaria Argentina (AEA) and Endeavor Argentina, and is currently President of the Agribusiness Chapter of LIDE Argentina. Besides this, Gustavo is also Secretary and Founding Partner of Cámara Argentina de Biotecnología. 

 

 

Jack Edwards 

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Jack worked for Cummins Inc. as the President of its Power Generation Group with more than US $1 billion in sales and fifteen thousand employees. During his thirty years with Cummins, Jack lived and worked in Mexico, Brazil, US and England. Jack was deeply involved in Cummins’ corporate social responsibility initiatives and he started a school for 700 children in Sao Paulo, Brazil; helped start a carpentry business for blind people in Mexico which now employs 100 people and a Women’s Engineering College in Pune, India which now has 1000 students. Jack came to know of Ashoka during his time with Cummins as the company sponsored and supported six Ashoka fellows in the late 1990s. As part of enjoying his encore career in the citizen sector, Jack is also involved with a micro savings and credit program in Colombia and a health clinic for Mayans in Mexico. Jack has worked with Ashoka as a volunteer since 2003, based from his home in Miami, Florida.

 

 

Joaquín Sorondo

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Joaquin studied law at the UBA and worked in Human Resources for 25 years for various companies. He co-founded the Human Resources Association of Argentina (ADRHA). Following the crisis in 2001, he moved away from the corporate world and founded INICIA, entrepreneur for the future, a non-profit that promotes the creation and development of sustainable enterprises that generate economic, social, civic and environmental value to the community. In late 2003 he founded the social sector the Center for a New Leadership (CNL) to promote people-centered leadership and the common good. Through Joaquin Sorondo & Asociados, he provides counseling and Human Services to different companies, public and private organizations

 

Johanna Posada

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Johanna co-founded Elevar in 2008 and she has over 15 years of corporate finance, economics, microfinance and emerging markets investing experience and has long been involved in economic development. She has partnered with and invested in companies which are today some of Latin America’s biggest providers of services to the disconnected communities. She currently serves as a Director of Caja Rural Los Andes (a preeminent provider of financial services in Peru’s rural market), Union Andina (a provider of housing purchase and finance solutions to migrant workers from Latin America), Finae (a leading provider of higher education loans to low and lower-middle income students in Mexico) and Financiera TFC (a leading provider of small enterprise finance and low-income housing finance in Peru). She has previously served on the Board of Credex (a microfinance institution in Mexico). Before Elevar, she was with the Unitus Equity Fund where she worked to raise the fund and make investments in Asia and Latin America. She also worked extensively on different financing mechanisms and structures to remove financing constraints of several microfinance companies in India, Mexico and Kenya and was primarily responsible for sourcing Unitus’ MFI global pipeline of investments.

 

Juan Mora

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Juan Mora is the founder of Propeller Strategies, a firm that develops strategic communications plans for leaders who move the world forward. Before founding Propeller Strategies, Mr. Mora co-founded the Americas Business Council Foundation (abc*), a think-do tank that identifies and supports high-impact initiatives and leaders in the Americas striving to promote peace, sustainability and prosperity. Prior to abc* Foundation, he co-founded Page One Media, a content platform that launched PODER Magazine. PODER served as a publication that for 10 years provided the region's audience of influential senior business leaders and policymakers with in-depth editorial coverage and information on the U.S. Hispanic market and Latin America. Mr. Mora handled all public and media relations for PODER Magazine and worked with the Chairman and Editor in Chief of the magazine in the implementation of the strategy and vision coordinating the different internal committees. 

 

 

Lisandro Bril

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Lisandro Bril is the Founder and Managing Partner of AxVentures -Pymar and Holdinvest Technology Funds. He is currently invested and seats at the Board of five companies: Keclon (Biotech), ZauberLabs (Internet BtoB), GranData (Big Data), Pixowl (Mobile games), Technisys (Banking software applications); he is Member of the Advisory Board of CITES – Centro de Innovación Tecnológica, Empresarial y Social, Grupo Sancor (Center for Technological, Business and Social Innovation, Sancor Group). Mr. Bril participated in the creation and is currently Board Member and Governor of Enablis Argentina and Strategic Advisor to Enablis Latin America, an organization sponsored by G8 to promote entrepreneurship globally. He is also co-founder of Endeavor Argentina and actively participates in the Endeavor Global Venture Capital Network. He is a pioneer VC and entrepreneurial development activist since the 90s, when as Manager of i5 (a Hicks Muse Venture Capital) he invested in Amtec (now Neoris), and later, in Technisys (Software for SOA banking applications) with Holdinvest Technology Fund.

 

Lorena Dames

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Lorena Dames is COO for the Southern Region (Argentina , Chile and Peru). She has over 20 years experience in the IT industry and 15 years in management. She joined SAP Argentina in 2001 for the post of Director of Personal Services. She subsequently held the positions of VP Consulting Delivery Head and LAC BTS Head.

 

 

Lukas Socarras

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Lukas Socarras is the Chief Operating Officer of the Siemens Fundacion in Bogotá, Colombia, since 2007. He is responsible for the administration, program management, planning and implementing the country strategy. He also supports the Latin America strategy in the area of Basic Needs and Social Entrepreneurship of the Siemens Stiftung, since 2013. With Siemens, he has worked promoting thematic on science and technology education, aligned to the corporate objectives and influence in regional and local educational plans. In addition, he has experience working on basic services, implementing technical solutions and social innovation model with entrepreneurial focus in the fields of water, sanitation, energy, agriculture and food, between others.

 

Mario Quintana

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Mario Quintana is founder and President of Farmacity, founded in 1997 and now with 230 locations and 6,000 employees. Mario is also Founder and Chairman of the Pegasus Group, established in 2000. In addition to Farmacity, the Pegasus Group includes Freddo and Tortugas Open Mall and holds stakes in real estate, technology and food. At 21, Mario graduated with a degree in Economics from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), having already started his career at Siemens. Five years later he received a scholarship for graduate studies in France, where he received his MBA with distinction from INSEAD. Later he returned to the country to join the leading strategic consulting firm McKinsey & Co. Participating in the creation of several companies sparked an interest in entrepreneurship. 

 

Matthias Fuchs

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Matthias is responsible for strategic innovation and new business models in HealthCare at Boehringer Ingelheim, a large German family-owned Pharma company. He is a physician by training with a broad background and over 35 years of experience in HealthCare in different areas and geographies. He considers himself a true generalist with a passion for innovative customer centric approaches & solutions, taking a cosmic perspective on the HealthCare continuum. After studying medicine in Germany and Brazil and 5 years in hospital and academia, Matthias worked for the German Ministry of Health in the area of Health policies, before joining industry, where he spent many years with consumer company Procter & Gamble in a variety of roles. Over the past 2 years Matthias has also been leading the MakingMoreHealth initiative, a joint venture with Ashoka, identifying, supporting and co-creating together with Social Entrepreneurs.

 

 

Natalia Mouhapé

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Natalia Mouhapé works with Bamboo Finance since November 2009. Bamboo Finance is a global private equity firm with USD$ 250M AUM, representing a portfolio of 35 investments in 24 countries with offices in Bogota, Geneva, Luxembourg, and Singapore. Bamboo Finance invests in companies that expand access and improve quality and affordability of essential products and services for low income populations. Natalia is part of the Latin America team, managed from Bogota. She is responsible for monitoring 3 of Bamboo’s investees through Board positions, generating new deal flow, and structuring and executing transactions. She also contributes to portfolio strategy and sits on the committee that pre approves new investments. Natalia has over 18 years of experience in M&A transactions with special focus in Latin America. Prior to joining Bamboo Finance, Natalia was Partner and Director with Argentina’s largest M&A advisor, Infupa. She worked on several M&A transactions in Argentina advising international clients in different industries such as banking and insurance, food, construction materials and media. She was also engaged in debt restructuring processes, fairness opinions and other special assignments.

 

Nicolás Pichon-Rivière

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Nicolás began his career consumer marketing at Sava-Gancia and Cargill (Argentina and USA). Subsequently, he was a consultant in the Madrid office of McKinsey & Company, then moved to the Buenos Aires office where he worked with clients in Chile, Brazil, the USA and Argentina. As an entrepreneur, he led the entrance to the Region of Cendant Corp and General Manager for Argentina and later as Senior Vice President for Latin America. He founded and served as CEO to BtoBen Inc., a holding Internet companies sold to Banco Santander, and also founded Recycled Regomax, a company dedicated to recycling used tires. He has extensive experience serving on Boards of Directors, having served more than a dozen companies in the areas of Retail, Food, Technology, Health and Recycling Services. He is currently on the Board of Directors of Pegasus, Farmacity, Freddo and Pampa Cheese. He holds a degree in Business Administration from the University of Belgrano and an MBA (Beta Gamma Sigma) from the University of Rochester (Simon School of Business Administration).

 

Nobu Otsuka

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Nobu Otsuka is Lead Specialist at the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) where he leads a team of Value Chain Topic including agricultural high value markets, inclusive business, and micro-franchising. Nobu has been working for the IDB over 15 years, taking different positions including Investment Officer and Financial Sector Specialist. In addition to the financial and capital markets development, he has structured, implemented, and evaluated numerous micro and small enterprise development projects throughout the Latin America and the Caribbean region. Recently Nobu has been engaged in projects related to seed capital, business angel, SME finance, entrepreneurship and innovation, as well as research on high-impact firms and SME’s effects on poverty reduction. He holds graduate degrees from ESADE Business School and Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

 

 

Pascal Vinarnic

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In 1994, Pascal set up the Demeter Foundation to support incipient and innovative non-profits develop alternative business models helping them in reaching financial self-sufficiency. For about 10 years Demeter focused upon Microfinance in India, Africa and Latin America. Demeter is now focused upon economic tools for the reinsertion of At-Risk Youth (ranging for handicapped to ex-convicts). As an illustration, Demeter is involved with a social incubator developing programs related to the economic integration of handicapped in Latin America; or with the first dedicated investment fund in NY targeting ex-convicts to help them start their business when they are released from jail.

 

Peter Beez

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Peter Beez is an economist for the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). He has worked in small businesses as well as the World Economic Forum. His has experience in private-public sector collaboration, private and financial sector development (microfinance), financial and economic evaluation, local economic development, corporate governance and public finance. He has experience working in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America.

 

 

Valeria Budinich

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Valeria Budinich is a social entrepreneur who has worked for 25 years in the creation and expansion of new businesses with social impact in 22 countries worldwide. At Ashoka, Valeria founded in 2003 the Full Economic Citizenship (FEC) Initiative, a global initiative enabling large commercial alliances between social entrepreneurs and private companies to deliver products and services to small producers and low-income families through the articulation of Hybrid Value Chains (HVC™). Ashoka's FEC work is focused on housing, healthcare, and agriculture. As the Chief Entrepreneur of the Ashoka Housing for All program, Valeria launched the initiative 3 years ago and has been responsible for expanding it to Brazil, Colombia, Egypt and India. Prior to Ashoka, Valeria was the Chief Operating Officer at Appropriate Technology International, a founding Vice-President for Latin America at Endeavor, and a VP for New Initiatives at BDA, a California-based consulting firm specializing in business process redesign and technology innovations for private sector clients worldwide. She was brought up in Chile and trained as an industrial engineer.

 

Virgilio Barco

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Virgilio joined Acumen as Director of Latin America in September 2013. He is responsible for all Latin America related investments, operations and business development activities. Before joining Acumen, he was the Executive Director of the non-profit Social Investment Bank (Banca de Inversión Social), which has helped lead the development of the impact investing space in Colombia. Prior to that, he was the Founding Director of Invest in Bogota, a public-private partnership that promotes foreign direct investment to the Greater Bogota region. In 2009, Invest in Bogota was ranked as the top non-OECD investment promotion agency in the world by the IFC. Virgilio also headed the privatization unit at the Colombian Ministry of Finance and was an advisor on local economic development for the Bogota Planning Department. He has worked in private equity with FondElec Group, as a management consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton in Brazil and as a financial analyst at Citibank Spain. He holds a B.A. in Government from Harvard College, an M.S. from the MIT Sloan School of Management and an M.A. in Economics from NYU.