Haiti Start

Mauricio Angulo

Mauricio has worked with the 100 top companies in Mexico and Latinoamérica to help them create usable and easy to use technology products, including BBC Entertainment, Banorte Group, IXE Bank, Nokia, Blackberry, Microsoft, NOTMUSA amongst several others.

He collaborates as mentor for startups in the Founders Institute's Mexico chapter and in Google Launchpad events on topics of user experience, content development, usability and visual design. In 2014 co-founded UX Nights, a user experience community and is editor of the UX Nights online magazine. He also is a writer, public speaker, musician and teacher. Lives in Mexico City with his wife Renata, his daughter Ana Lucia and his cat Dante. He speaks fluent Spanish, English and German.

Santiago Carrillo 

MSc in software engineering from the University of Amsterdam. Android developer for 6+ years; in different countries and projects, for diverse markets (bookings, e-health, telecommunications, and marketing).

Co-founder and CTO of tuatara.co. Freelancer and consultant for Android apps development.

Co-organizer of the Google Developers Group Bogota and founder of the Android Meetup Bogota community.

Martin Vivas 

Community building - Startups & Entrepreneurs - Latin America Design-thinking professional, with over 15 years of experience in the technology industry. As Learning eXperience Designer he has built acceleration and training programs, as well as experiences (hackathons and innovation challenges) throughout Latin America.

Martin is a strategy consultant and senior advisor for large companies, government entities, and high-potential startups. Founder at @thinkleanEdu, he believes that a strong ecosystem provides more and better opportunities for everyone, and that is why he has actively dedicated his pro-bono work to building and supporting communities, of technology professionals, in 16 countries and over 60 cities across Latin America, along 8 years. Leader at Next Buenos Aires, global facilitator for Startup Weekend, Palermo Valley, HackMaster of HackDay Foundation, curator of Startup Digest and World Startup Report Ambassador.

Shaïna Silva

Shaina Silva is an award-winning ecosystem architect, venture builder, and futurist.

In her ten years of building startup ecosystems in emerging markets across Africa, Southeast Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Shaina has worked alongside Government and Private sector to fuel industry focused transformation in Energy, Transport, Healthcare, Food & Ag, Education, and Finance. She is currently the Director of Industry Accelerators at RocketSpace, where she designs and manages programs that drive corporate innovation for fortune 500 companies, and catalyzes global market access for the world's most disruptive startups.

Prior to joining RocketSpace, Shaina served as the Portfolio Director at Generation Enterprise (GEN), an innovation hub based in Lagos, Nigeria, where she worked alongside the Nigerian Government, Google Africa, 1776, and Ford Foundation, on entrepreneurship development programs such as Ready Set Work, Aso Villa Demo Day, Nigerian Youth Service Corps (NYSC), and the Africa Startup Academy.

Earlier in her career, Shaina worked as a Strategy Consultant at Data Management Services International, in Washington DC, managing large-scale government contracts focused on government innovation and cybersecurity.

Shaina is a graduate of Babson College and alumni of Draper University and Singularity University. She has been nominated as an Innovation Talent for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and continues to drive impact in emerging markets as an Executive member of Affiniti.VC, IMISI3D, the WorkSpace Collective, Haiti Tech Summit, Fotokonbit, and Banj. In recognition of her work, service, and accomplishments, she’s been awarded the Institute of Caribbean Studies’ “30 under 30, Emerging Leaders Award”, Babson College’s ‘Nan-Langowitz Women Who Make a Difference Award’, and is a proud recipient of ‘The Shelby Cullom Davis Entrepreneurship Prize’.

Ben-Manson Toussaint

Ben-Manson Toussaint is an award-winning researcher who graduated Magna Cum Laude with his Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence from University Grenoble Alps, France.

He co-founded SITERE Laboratory affiliated to the Superior School of Computer Science and Electronics of Haiti, the first scientific research laboratory on Artificial Intelligence and Virtual and Augmented Reality of the Caribbean.

His last venture is Seekncheck, a platform using Artificial Intelligence for on-demand specialized proofreading and translation. 

Ben is also a mentor on Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence at Google Developers Launchpad Accelerator.

Juan Pablo Rojas

Juan Pablo is a specialist in marketing based on metrics and outbound marketing. He knows how to create and measure strategies from the beginning, advertise products using the most useful channels, increase conversions and grow businesses.

Juan Pablo has been working in Platzi for three years on marketing and product management. Platzi is an online education platform that teaches about programming, design, marketing and businesses. Juan Pablo taught one of the courses about AdWords and gave multiple conferences around Colombia, Mexico, Bolivia and the United States.

Marc Alain Boucicault

Marc Alain (MAB) is an ecosystem builder. He is the founder of Banj, the first and biggest entrepreneurship hub of Port-au-Prince. He brought Facebook and Google to Haiti to work with developers and to support entrepreneurship in a nation still seen as a destination mostly for humanitarian work.

Born, raised and college educated in Port-au-Prince, he worked 7 years in international development in Washington, DC and in Port-au-Prince at the World Bank and with the Inter-American Development Bank before he decided to create his own businesses. He is also co-founder of Groupe ECHO Haiti, a grassroots organization valorizing the potential of young adults in development in Haiti through which he created and lead several innovative projects including ELAN Haiti, the biggest international platform that brings together a community of students, young leaders and entrepreneurs from Haiti, its diaspora and the world focused on taking joint actions in Haiti.

MAB is responsible for partnerships at the Haiti Tech Summit: The biggest international tech event in the history of the country. He also co-founded and serves as chief external relations officer at HFund, a closed-ended micro-venture capital firm based in Haiti offering new modern and tailored financial instruments that bring capital to innovative businesses and contribute to the emergence of a new category of entrepreneurs in Haiti.

Marc Alain is a Fulbright scholar. He holds an M.A in Financial Economic Policy from American University and a B.A in Applied Quantitative Economics from CTPEA. He teaches economics in 12th grade at Collège Les Oliviers. It is just one of his many ways to give back to his country while strengthening the ecosystem from an early stage. He believes that entrepreneurship is the only way out of poverty for Haiti and, through his various initiatives, he is offering all those willing to go in that direction a seat at the table.

Akhilesh Kumar

Akhilesh Kumar, Senior Product Manager at 360insights leads product management and product strategy for two of the fastest growing software products at 360insights. Previously Akhilesh has been a technology entrepreneur and he has experience in launching two web-based startups.

Akhilesh has an immense passion for disruptive innovation and displacement of existing value networks. He is an ardent follower of the Lean Startup Model and is highly focused on unit economics and profitability.

Prior to being part of the technology industry, Akhilesh has over 10 years of experience in solving complex business problems for large corporations.

Tim Rochon

Tim is a technology executive who is passionate about leading teams to consistently deliver amazing technology solutions for clients and customers.

Tim has 25+ years leading technology development efforts across several enterprises and 2 start-up’s, with education from Laurentian University where he holds a combined major in Computer Science and Mathematics with Honours, B.Sc., Magna Cum Laude.

His experience spans the technology landscape including programming, architecture and design, project management, and executive leadership. Tim has served as a technology executive in Banking with JP Morgan Chase, in Retail with Loblaw Companies Limited and Sears Canada, and now 360insights (1.5 years) as CTO.

Naïsha Silva

Startup Coach, Diversity & Inclusion advocate and Business Operations Strategist - Naisha is a Project Manager at Google leading initiatives that enhance candidate and employee experience. One of her proudest achievements at Google is co-founding Haiti Digital - a task force of 20+ Haitian Googlers dedicating 20% of their work time to drive initiatives that propel entrepreneurship in Haiti, shift the narrative of Haiti, and empower the Haitian Next Billion Users (NBU).

Naisha is a U.S. State Department TechWomen Mentor, Google Launchpad Startup Success Manager, Google for Entrepreneurs Mentor, Startingbloc Social Innovation Fellow, and Women’s Soccer Coach for refugee girls. She has a passion for the Future of Work and startup ecosystems in emerging markets. 

Alice Bonhomme-Biais

Alice Bonhomme-Biais is a software engineering coach passionate about the use of technology for social impact.

After completing her computer science Ph.D. in France, she spent 12 years at Google New York. She first worked as a software engineer and team lead on Google Maps and Google Web Search. Later, she joined, as a founding member, the Google Crisis Response team to use technology to help people impacted by natural disasters.

She now coaches tech companies and startups in US, Kenya, and Haiti to help them build their engineering culture and apply software engineering best practices to create better products and ship them faster.

Jumaane Ponder

Jumaane Ponder has over 10 years of experience in finance and investments and has maintained a particular passion and interest in emerging markets. He has worked with such organizations as the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), UBS Investment Bank and the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic. More recently Mr. Ponder was Sr. Manager of Strategic Financial Planning and M&A for AES Corporation, where he managed over $350M of annual cash-flow and over $1bn of investments.

Jason Atkins

Jason has a long track record of using his strong entrepreneurial spirit and technology expertise to create and build businesses. 360insights, is Jason’s award-winning third business and has grown to become one of the top ten largest software companies in Canada.

360 has won the prestigious Great Place To Work™ award for four straight years, becoming the only company in the history of the award to simultaneously hold a ranking in the top four positions consistently for four straight years while growing the size of its team by over 382%.

Jason has a strong commitment to community and serves/has served on multiple non-profit and for-profit boards. Jason also founded City Flow project which is a seed fund investing in local technology companies. Jason started a small BPO technology project in Haiti in 2013 with 10 people and it has now grown to over 100 people and recently, he joined the board of Avanse.org to help bring STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) to the children of Haiti.

Irwin Liu

Irwin is passionate about building technology for large companies that make a dent in the universe. He's worked at startups, scale-ups and massive enterprises, building awesome teams and products. A lifelong student, his two kids Kai (3 years old) and Max (1.5 years old) keep him curious about everything.

Christine Souffrant Ntim

Christine Souffrant Ntim is an award-winning Haitian-American entrepreneur & startup ecosystem expert for emerging markets. She was selected and featured in Forbes 30 Under 30, AdAge 40 Under 40, Haiti Changemakers 1804 List, Singularity NASA, Entrepreneur Magazine, Huffington Post, Inc Magazine and more.

She speaks on digital entrepreneurship, startup hacking, exponential tech AI, and personal branding at over 20+ global conferences a year- which includes former appearances at the US State Department Tours, United Nations, TEDx, SXSW, Startup Grind Global, SeedStars World, European Union Forum and more.

She started her career as the founder of Vendedy- a social network connecting people to street markets with the aim of digitizing a $10 trillion dollar black economy and centralizing the world’s 200,000 street markets.

Today, Christine is the Director of Startup Grind Dubai Powered by Google For Entrepreneurs and a partner at the GlobalStartupEcosystem.com which hosts the largest digital online accelerator program in the world- graduating over 1000+ companies across 190+ countries a year.

Duquesne Fednard

Duquesne Fednard's experience encompasses finance, management, operations and engineering in both start-ups and established enterprises in developed and developing countries. Present and past positions include CEO of D&E Green Enterprises, CEO of B2D S.A, Director of Cetemoh Digital Center (CDC), Co-founder of Centre de Technologie Moderne d'Haiti (CETEMOH), Director of NYC Business Solutions at Wildcat Service Corporation, Associate at Citi Group and Vice President at Perfection, one of the largest machine shops in Haiti.

Duquesne is an Ashden award winner, an Ashoka Fellow, a past Digicel Haiti Entrepreneur of the Year winner, and a member of the Clinton Foundation and the European Environmental Foundation. He holds a master’s degree from Columbia University in International Affairs and bachelor’s degree in Management Information Systems (MIS) from State University of New York.

Dan Feld

Dan Feld is leading Google's Developer Launchpad Program regional activities in North America. Before that, Dan served as the Head of Enterprise Solutions for Google Cloud Platform and as the Country Manager, EEMEA for Amazon.com, responsible for helping customers and partners take advantage of Cloud technologies. Dan has more than 20 years of business and IT experience around advanced technologies, business, and IT Infrastructures.

Dan has built and led global Sales, Business Development and IT teams for public traded companies such as Google (GOOG), Amazon.com (AMZN), Clicksoftware (CKSW), Creo (Creo) and Scitex (SCIX) and has worked on leading edge IT projects such as applying open source technologies within global corporate environments. Dan has an MBA from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. 

Francisco Solsona

Paco leads developer relations and our Launchpad program for Google Developers in Spanish-speaking LATAM or SpLATAM, fostering tech startups and communities, increasing the number of high-quality apps, and bringing Google and Silicon Valley’s best practices to the region. Over the past few years, Paco has formed one of the strongest networks of mentors, and partners that impact over 50K developers and technical professionals, and mentors around 500 startups in a variety of in-person events; every year.

As training to lead Developer Platform in the region, he worked for more than 10 years as CTO of the School of Sciences and leader for several successful IT projects at UNAM. He has a long teaching experience in CS, and wrote two books on computing foundations. He goes head over heels with new challenges, and has been found working on too many projects, repeatedly. 

Christine Coupet Jacques

Christine C. Jacques est une professionnelle du Marketing et de la Communication, licenciée en « Latin American Studies and Francophone Literature » de Tufts University. Elle a aussi obtenu une maîtrise en Affaires Internationales et Gestion des Telecommunications. Après ses études universitaires, elle a travaillé comme Directeur de Marketing dans deux grandes entreprises Haïtiennes: Compagnie Des Tabacs Comme Il Faut et Voilà.

Jeune entrepreneure fougueuse et toujours prête à entamer de nouveaux projets, Christine créa sa compagnie de Marketing DAGMAR en 2008, et depuis, elle a aussi fondé Matrix Media, et Haiti Business. Elle assure la gestion de ces entreprises à succès tout en continuant à se former dans les derniers développements du Marketing numérique. Christine travaille régulièrement avec les jeunes entrepreneurs en qualité de mentor et œuvre à présenter une image positive d’Haïti à travers une variété de projets.

Jean-Marc Leger

Jean-Marc is passionate about entrepreneurship and the integration of technology to grow and streamline businesses. He has a background in international business and project management. His career began at DMS International in Washington D.C. as a corporate development, marketing and information technology specialist. He currently lives in Haiti where he has built and implemented information technology systems in several companies and started his own business. In his spare time he enjoys exploring new advances in technology and emerging markets.

Carel Pedre

A producer, TV and radio host, Carel Pedre is one of the most influential and famous media personality in Haiti. Not only does he master the art of social media but he also has a pure talent interacting with people. In 2005, he created Chokarella (Creole for “Carel’s Show”) an exceptional talent pool for all people evolving in the cultural and entertainment industry in Haiti. An astute leader, he received awards and has been involved in Haiti's most popular TV programs like Digicel Stars, Ayiti Deploge and Kiyès Ki Toro a. In the last year, he was a TEDX Speaker in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe and he was chosen to represent Haiti in the US State Department International Visitor Leadership Program. With over 15 years of experience, Carel has never stopped innovating and introduces regularly new features to Haiti's media market.

Emilie Grandoit Achille

After graduating from high school in Haiti at Lycée Alexandre Dumas, Emilie left for Montreal to begin her university studies. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Communication-Marketing and a graduate degree from HEC (Hautes Études Commerciales). Prior to joining Digicel as Head of Marketing in 2011, Emilie spent 10 years working for numerous Canadian and international advertising agencies (i.e.: Cossette, Bleu Blanc Rouge, Publicis, TBWA) in both New York and Montreal. As an account director at Bleu Blanc Rouge, she has won several awards for The Gazette's Words Matter campaign. She also helped launch the Metro & Moi reward and loyalty program for the Metro food chain during her time at Publicis. In 2013, Emilie launched her own consulting agency, Lift Communication. Throughout her career, she has worked in multiple fields such as telecommunications, automotive, cosmetics, and food to name a few while managing budgets ranging from $ 50,000 to $ 15 million. From brand or product launch to consumer loyalty, through promotion and contests, she has experience in all types of media - print, TV, radio, billboard, web and social media.

Patrice Bayard

Patrice Bayard is the Co-Founder and Vice President of Access Haiti. He also holds the position of General Manager of Tele Haiti after it was acquired by Access Haiti. Patrice Bayard is heavily implicated in the economic development of Haiti. He is involved in multiple associations that contribute to Haiti's economic development. He is a board member in the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIO), Co-Founder and board member in the bilateral chambers of commerce and Industry, Brazil - Taiwan, Haiti - Taiwan. Patrice Bayard is a passionate entrepreneur, who enjoys creating new ventures that promote economic growth, and a better environment for all.

Jean Philippe Brun

Consumer Sales Director for Digicel Haiti. 11 years of experience in the Telecommunications industry in the Sales and Mobile Financial Services realm.

Charles Clermont

Charles Clermont a été Directeur Général du Groupe SOGEBANK, Société Générale Haïtienne de Banque S.A, alors première banque d’Haïti. Il est actuellement membre des conseils d’administration de la Société Financière Haïtienne de Développement SA (SOFIHDES) et de la Société Générale de Solidarité S.A (SOGESOL). Il est également membre-fondateur de l’Institut du Développement Personnel et Organisationnel (IDEO) et de la compagnie d’électricité E-POWER SA. Charles Clermont fait également partie du Conseil d’Administration de CARIBBEAN INVESTOR CAPITAL, première société de « private equity » Haïtienne.

Ingénieur de l’Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA) de Toulouse, France, il est titulaire d’une Maitrise de la Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Il a été Vice- Président Fondateur de l’Association des Économistes de la Caraïbe (ACE) et un conseiller de la Présidence Haïtienne en matière d’accords commerciaux et d’intégration régionale.

Olivier Bayard

Olivier Bayard graduated from McGill University with a bachelor in Marketing and a Major in Finance. He has extensive knowledge of the Haitian milieu (both in business and sociologically) and has been instrumental in the *brandship* of major local leading Brands. Today he is the Head of Strategy and Innovation in PubliGestion, a leading local Advertising Agency.