I am just retuning from Washington, D.C. where I spent two days with the students of the Global Competitiveness Leadership Program.  This program, created by the Georgetown University Latin American Board, is a three month intensive course that brings together young leaders from Latin America, Spain and Portugal from the private, social and political sectors.  Taught by professors from the business school and the school of Foreign Service, among other departments, the course is designed to give high-impact leaders the tools they need to become agents of change in our region.  During their stay the students not only attend classes on leadership, business planning, public speaking, social impact, etc., but also work in teams to create multidisciplinary projects that they can bring back home and work on upon their return.  My father was a founding member of the board, a responsibility that I know proudly hold.

It was extremely exciting to get to know all the participants of the 7^th graduating class who together represented 17 countries. The projects presented that most caught my attention were:

Human K: An initiative designed to place students that have studied abroad into competitive jobs in their countries of origin. Human K’s goal is to reverse the effects of the so called “brain drain” that our part of the world so often suffers from when our students don’t come back after graduating from international schools.

CUIDA:  An online platform that strives to expose urban problems and provide a tool to fix them.  Through the portal you can report on problems affecting your community ranging from inadequate trash recollection to potholes and sewage issue.  Once reported, the Cuida team in each city reaches out to the relevant players to make improvements happen.

PIENSA: A platform that aims at bringing innovative ways for corporations to address key issues of sustainability in Latin America. 

CoEmprendiendo: A tool that will provide knowledge for Latin-American social entrepreneurs through the publication of original case studies and articles by Latin Americans for Latin Americans.

Prof. com: An online teaching tool created by teacher s for teachers. It aims at improving the quality of education in our region by providing additional training to teachers.  In their own words “it’s like a Khan Academy for teachers”.  I am looking forward to working with this team and sharing with them our experience with our own teacher training program called AME.

A special recognition was given to Alejandro Barja from Bolivia. Alejandro was part of the first class GCL students who upon returning home, inspired by his experience at Georgetown, decided to create his own center for leadership development and to date has trained over 1200 Bolivian young adults at FUNBOLIDER (Fundación Boliviana de Liderazgo para la Competitividad Global).

It was wonderful to spend time with the two leaders from Venezuela that we sent to the program this year, Nicolás Cárdenas and Alexander Núñez.  They are eager to get back home and make a difference…. And that in the end is what it is all about.

Favorite thing of the moment:

Gogo Quinoa products.   This Canadian company was started by Adriana Yaffar, here from Bolivia after graduating from the GCL program. 

They produce high quality, high-end  food products using the super food Quinoa and other ancient grains  and are sold worldwide.  They do everything right, from sourcing to working with indigenous communities, and adhere to all Fair Trade standards.

Miami has come a long way since the 80s. Thanks to Miami Vice, the ever popular TV show, the city became known for drug lords, men in tight white jeans and cigarette boats.

In the past 10 years it has had a rebirth, many would say thanks to Art Basel Miami Beach and the focus that the art fair brought the city. With the success of the fair and the realization that people in Miami too, crave culture, came the momentum to build the new Miami Art Museum, a new focus on the  De La Cruz Collection Contemporary Art Space, the Wolfsonian Museum, the Bass Museum, and most recently the building of the new World Symphony Hall. But, there is a new movement in town that is close to becoming a game changer for the city once again. Miami, this decade, will be defined by startups, VCs and successful entrepreneurs.

With the help of a couple of strategic players, the city is coming together to create and support an environment that fosters entrepreneurship and all the things that come with it – education, funding, exposure, etc. The private sector, companies and individuals, the public sector, educational institutions and not-for-profits are all in this together and they seem to be pulling it off.

Some of the key players are:

· The Knight Foundation has launched an initiative in the Miami area that supports the start-up culture by investing in the spaces and events where entrepreneurs come together.  One example of this is its recent funding of the Miami version of NewME, a nationally acclaimed accelerator, helping to jump-start tech businesses.

· LAB Miami: the city’s first tech-centric shared space work environment. Based in Wynwood, the city’s up and coming alternative neighborhood which is quickly becoming the center of gravity for the entrepreneurial world. For around a $200/month membership fee, LABrats, a nickname for members, are provided a shared workspace with other entrepreneurs, a mailing address, workshops and other basic start-up business needs, all with the goal of creating a “campus for social innovation.”

· Universities: Both the University of Miami (UM) and Florida International University (FIU) have hopped on board, creating and supporting venture capitalism programs. At University of Miami, Launch Pad will open a community accelerator in January 2013 in downtown Miami. Companies selected to participate in the program will receive a $25k grant, participate in a three-month mentoring program, and be given free access to office space for the year. FIU has also taken an active role in the development of the VC ecosystem in the region, and will host its annual Americas Venture Capital Conference in December.

· Accelerators: Incubate Miami has just launched its sixth class of 6 companies, having graduated 18 businesses to date.

· Refresh Miami is a South Florida network of tech professionals and enthusiasts, helping to connect and “refresh” the tech community in the area.  The group offers monthly networking events, and has ongoing workshops and classes, all of which support the local landscape for tech development. 

To tie all of this up—and perhaps as evidence of the aforementioned—Miami will soon be hosting its first “LatAm Innovation Week”, to be held on the heels of Art Basel.  From December 6-15, Innovate MIA will highlight the growing and robust start-up tech scene, showcasing local entrepreneurs and many of the previously mentioned organizations right alongside cutting edge international organizations. 

Innovate MIA Week will include events such as a Hackathon to be held at LAB Miami, Endeavor’s  International Selection Panel, Wayra’s first international demo day, and will culminate with the FIU Americas Venture Capital Conference.  It is sure to be an exciting week, reaffirming Miami’s place on the global tech map. 

Read: Miami Herald Article about Innovate MIA

Favorite thing of the moment:

Open English, a startup success story out of Coconut Grove started by Andres Moreno. This online interactive language course has taken the world by storm. A true disrupter in the field, Open English is the new Rosetta Stone, but better.

Read more about it here: http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/26/open-english-43m/

Adriana Cisneros during her presentation

Adriana Cisneros with Victor Campos and Diego Alvarez from Easyaula

Adriana Cisneros with Frederico Camara and André Moniz from WeGoOut

In the spirit of entrepreneur week I want to tell you about my latest trip to Brazil. I was there for 21212’s Demo Day where the 10 companies from the most recent incubation cycle presented. (See Demo Day website to read about each one!).

Despite only being there for 36 hours and having to two out of three nights sleeping on a plane, I came back fully energized thanks to the entrepreneurial energy that permeates Rio. The quality of the companies and the entrepreneurs that presented was impressive. This cycle I mentored two companies, Easy Aula and WeGoOut, and they did a truly great job. I am so proud to have worked with them both during the incubation cycle.

I also had the opportunity to present a set of opening remarks at the event. I spoke about the momentum we are experiencing in Latin America, the fact that we have a growing middle class coming of age during the digital revolution, and that Brazil is not the only success story in LatAm anymore. Peru, Colombia, Chile and even Argentina with its shaky politics, are doing extremely well and contributing in an important way to the success of our region. I also talked about mentorship and what a great experience it has been for me. Mentorship is a core element at 21212. Each startup gets assigned a pair of mentors to help them work through big problems. In my case, however, I can say that I learned as much from my mentees and from the 21212 team as they might have from me.

Frederico Lacerda, Partner at 21212 Digital Accelerator

Benjamin White and Marcelo Sales, Partners at 21212 Digital Accelerator

Leroy, the 21212 intern

Davis Smith, successful serial entrepreneur, was also there.  He gave a talk about his experience launching baby.com.br in Brazil 2 years ago. His site is like diapers.com in the US. He walked us through how his company had evolved and grown in such a short period of time and further evidenced that the time of ecommerce in LatAm has finally arrived. 

I love being a part of 21212 and can’t wait for the next Demo Day. Every businessman in Latin America should support initiatives like this one, as they are the best way to support entrepreneurship in our region.

Favorite thing of the moment:

Check out this great advertisement for the Guardian paper in the UK.  Highlighting the organization's commitment to open journalism, it shows all of the different media platforms and methods of engagement used to cover the news, using the story from the children's tale The Three Little Pigs.  So creative!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/video/2012/feb/29/open-journalism-three-little-pigs-advert

Monday, October 8th marked the beginning of the MIPCOM conference in Cannes, which will wrap up on Friday the 12th. It is encouraging to see the audiovisual industry continuing to be strong, commercial deals being conducted between countries and organizations worldwide, and how the media industry, continues to prove that it does not deserve the stigma of being traditional or outdated. 

On October 9th I participated as keynote speaker at the Latin American Global Dealmakers Networking Lunch. I had the great opportunity to initiate a conversation about the challenges and perspectives of the industry in Latin America with Cynthia Hudson, Vice President of CNN International and General Director of CNN en Español. It was a fruitful dialogue, focusing on the ideas that standout in the market this year in Cannes: business opportunities in emerging markets, like Latin America.  We talked about how a demographic revolution is bringing “digital novices” forth as first-time market consumers. This, along with the technology revolution and adoption of new technologies, are leading the burgeoning and increasingly sophisticated middle class to new levels of consumption. The challenge for the industry is to be able to capture this potential and monetize on the opportunity. Perhaps this won’t happen overnight, but it will be soon and we need to be there and ready.

One of the speeches that has attracted the most attention so far was given by Robert Kyncl, VP and Global Head of Content for Google/YouTube. In front of a packed room, a rarity in our industry, Kyncl highlighted how YouTube has served as an important tool to stimulate creativity and bring it directly to the consumer, without third-party involvement, forcing advertisers and key players of the industry to take advantage and get involved in this opportunity. His data show that 800 million people in the world consume more than 4,000 million hours on YouTube each month. This is not evidence of an ongoing transformation. It is a new reality, and the high attendance at Kyncl’s presentation was proof of that. 

Lastly, in addition to the excellent and exciting proposals brought forth from Canada, this year’s honorary country, I want to point out the huge influx of content targeted for children. A lot of it has to do with MIPJunior, but it is also due to the new consumers, which as I previously mentioned, are “digital novices” whose pattern of consumption is different than what has been demanded up until now.   

Yahoo: Adriana Cisneros at MIPCOM: "The Greatest Challenge for Latin America This Decade Will Be to Capitalize on Emerging Opportunities"

Worldscreen: Adriana Cisneros: "We are Living the Latin American Decade"

Please click the link below to see the interview with Cynthia Hudson:

"Adriana Cisneros: We are Living the Latin American Decade (MIPCOM)"

Please click the link below to see the interview with Anna Carugati/WorldScreen:

Video Interview: Adriana Cisneros

This Sunday, October 7^th, Venezuela will have presidential elections. Venezuelans living abroad have become active participants in the electoral process. Below are three initiatives that are working towards getting the most voters to the voting polls.   

The consulate in Miami is currently closed, so in June, registered voters were transferred to New Orleans to cast their ballots. There are 20,000 registered voters in Miami, making it the largest concentration of voters outside of Venezuela. New Orleans is 1800 miles away.

To deal with the logistical challenge presented there are three initiatives in Miami working to help voters get to New Orleans to play an important part in this upcoming election. 

Aerovotar - Aerovotar’s mission is to raise funds to charter planes to fly voters to New Orleans that might otherwise not be able to make the trip; either due to cost, health or family commitments. So far they have raised $400,000, which will secure free flights for over 1,500 voters. 

Voto Donde Sea – Voto Donde Sea is another non-profit helping get voters to the right place. They have organized massive bus caravans called “votobuses” and travel packages for those that can manage  32  hour journey and have the flexibility of spending the night away from home. Although the travel packages are not free, they are generously subsidized, helping make them affordable to most.

Voto Joven – Voto Joven’s mission is to inspire young voters to participate in elections. They have done a lot of work in Venezuela, but have also been great promoters of democratic engagement internationally in places like Argentina and Australia. In Miami they have organized informative events helping voters find out what their options are for travelling to Louisiana.

I am proud to see the Venezuelan community engaged in the upcoming elections. Keep up the good work!