Somehow, the “warmth” of Latin America embraced and seduced them. The common element among all these entrepreneurs is that they visited – whether by chance or tourism – any country of the region and in some way they fell in love with the people, the landscape or the Latin lifestyle.
From Europe to the United States, these five stories have a happy ending, their projects succeeded thanks to Latin America:
Michael Puscar
Michael Puscar‘s biography specifies that he was born in Philadelphia (US) and he is defined as an entrepreneur, investor, lecturer and philanthropist. He has worked his way up by means of serial startups and the support provided for startups to develop innovative products.
What did he do for Latin America? After having founded and helped several companies back in the United States, by late 2013 and 2014 Mr. Puscar was focused on Latin America in an effort to actively promote the region as an investment destination. With that idea in mind, he founded GITP SA in Panama, an early-stage investment company that targets scalable and dynamic companies with international scope. Mr. Puscar constantly travels between Panama and Colombia, where he has contributed to the creation of such companies as Publicize, Colombia Reports and Miguelo Romano.
His passion for education has also made him be involved in initiatives that foster the implementation of technological elements in classrooms. Furthermore, Mr. Puscar is putting Medellin on the map as an innovative and cutting-edge city in the region.
Andrés Meira
The British architect go married to a Mexican woman, he had been living for just a few months at Condesa colony, Mexico City, when he found himself in the middle of a 7.8 earthquake according to Richter scale, in March 2012. The architect, who had already been sent to Haiti after the devastating earthquake, was very worried about that matter and this condition climbed to a new level as he realized that people were peacefully living in Mexico in spite of the imminent threat of earthquakes.
What did he do for Latin America? That experience brought about the idea of Grillo app, a compact and accessible seismic alert, conceived for domestic use, which also became the most successful project in the history of Mexican crowdsourcing platform, Fondeadora.
Unlike the competition, Meira was interested in an online and cheap app, always available and accessible for most of the people.
Anne Sophie Dutat
French serial entrepreneur Anne-Sophie Dutat, who already had certain experience with luxurious and fashion brands in Europe and Russia, arrived in Buenos Aires and found French airs to be discovered in every corner of the city. Her first startup, based on the concept of beauty box, was sold to Fancybox, but she later focused her actions on the region.
What did she do for Latin America? Dutat was interested in the online editorial content. She founded NorteSurMedia media group with different products. Guía Vulevú was the first one, with a lifestyle platform aimed at discovering unknown places in Buenos Aires-Mendoza-Santiago de Chile. It was followed by Hello- Kitchen.com, and her latest project is Restorius, a platform that targets the promotion and spreading of Latin American gastronomy.
The relation with Startup Chile was essential for this entrepreneur on her way to success. Dutat presently lives both in Latin America and France, manages her projects and helps other European startups and companies enter the Latin American market.
David Lloyd
The British economist arrived in Argentina so as to work and he fell in love with the continent. He realized that there was no organization or structure in the region in charge of organizing or centralizing the search for intern training, a situation he had witnessed.
What did he do for Latin America? Back in London he decided to found a company with that goal, but Start Up Chile gave him the opportunity to boost and fund his project and launch a global company.
Nowadays, The Intern Group is a worldwide success and, in Latin America, Colombia features an organized and formal internship structure for all graduates interested in obtaining work experience there.
Parker Stanberry
North American economist Parker Stanberry North American economist Parker Stanberry only stayed some 48 hours in Buenos Aires in 2004 and he didn’t know that it would be his permanent location some years later.
In 2006, Mr. Stanberry decided give a turn to his life and leave the US. Somehow, the nice memories of Buenos Aires –especially the attractive Palermo neighborhood- helped him make up his mind and, in 2006, he moved to that city. Perhaps he wasn’t aware at the time that it would be his home to date.
What did he do for Latin America? After having explored the city that fascinated him, in 2009 Mr. Stanberry founded Oasis Collections as he detected an unexploited market niche, a new hotel-real estate concept that combines the rental of Premium properties with “luxurious” hotel services that favor the access to exclusive events and places.
Nowadays, his company is very successful, with over 1,000 properties in Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica and the USA.
