Accelerate Puerto Rico/Entrepreneurship
Join current & aspiring entrepreneurs and effective accelerationists (e/acc) in Puerto Rico for an inspiring, educational, & community-building night.
We believe technology, humanity, art, and nature can co-exist and thrive. We can create a prosperous future together & build a powerful, supportive community powered by progress & vision.
7-7:30 PM: Meet & Mingle
BYOB & anything you'd like to share with new friends & community.
7:30-7:45 PM: Panel 1 - Tourism & Hospitality Entrepreneurship
Moderated by Ulises Perez Sanchez | Multidisciplinary digital illustrator, professor, and food safety instructor. Ulises has over 20+ years in the gastronomic industry, working behind the kitchen of many of Puerto Rico's most prominent restaurants and bars. He now trains the staff members of the island's most iconic gastronomic powerhouses, ambitious hospitality developments, and the next generation of chefs & mixologists. https://www.centroparaemprendedores.org/
1) Nichole Columna | Piezas Rush & Hostel Developer | Former financial industry professional (Goldman Sachs & ABN AMRO), turned entrepreneur. Her journey led her back to Puerto Rico where she leads a family business established in 1979, in 2019 she created a successful startup called Piezas Rush, and now she is developing a hospitality project in Santurce.
2) Gustavo Diaz Skoff | IncentivesPRO | Puerto Rican company assisting founders navigate all chapters of Act60. He is the co-founder of BASED magazine, and developer of a 14-Bed Family Hostel in Santurce, Puerto Rico. His insights into the rising supply and demand for the hospitality industry will aid contextualize the growth the island is experiencing.
7:45-8 PM: Panel 2 - Deeptech & Hardware
Moderated by Autumn Zhu | Odyssey Global | Founder & CEO of Odyssey, AI-Powered Community Health Workers that connect you to health and social services. Former policymaker at the White House, U.S. House of Representatives' Ways and Means Committee, HHS Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, United Nations. Forbes 30 Under 30 2020.
1) Vanessa Carballido & Francisco Laboy | GENMOJI | Through their renewable energy company, Genmoji, co-founders Vanessa Carballido and Francisco Laboy have developed a microgrid turbine that can be used to power communities and industrial buildings. The company wants to provide alternatives to Puerto Rico's currently unreliable power infrastructure.
United States Patent & Trademark Office Article: https://www.uspto.gov/learning-and-resources/uspto-videos/genmojis-microgrid-turbine
2) Bernardo Guerra | Native Materials | Digitizing the supply chain for wholesale building materials
3) Taylor Tondelli | Freewind Energy | Freewind Energy is a Puerto Rican based manufacturer and vertically integrated developer of Wind Turbine distributed energy resource systems for residential, C&I and community wind & solar projects.
Access Website & Suite of Products: https://freewindpr.com/
8-8:10 PM: Pitch Competition
Apply to share what you're building in a 1 minute audio or video to autumn@findodyssey.com
8:10-9 PM: Mixer
Make at least 2 new meaningful connections and exchange contact info to stay in touch! Guests include local Boricuan entrepreneurs, successfully exited founders, Puerto Rico's Local Forbes 30 Under 30 honorees, and World Economic Forum Global Shapers San Juan hub.
Miscellaneous:
Oct 9 pitch competition: Forbes and Boricuan Forbes 30 Under 30 List honoree Bad Bunny are searching for five promising young Latinx entrepreneurs to compete for a $300,000 prize.
The pitch competition will be held on October 9 at the 2023 Forbes Under 30 Summit in Cleveland, Ohio.