AQ Top 5 Young Entrepreneurs: Leila Velez
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Beauty company Beleza Natural became a national leader by empowering Brazilian women.
Entrepreneurship
AQ Top 5 Young Entrepreneurs: Jimena Flórez
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A globe-trotting Colombian entrepreneur whose healthy snack company speaks to her roots.
How Can Latin America Keep Its Entrepreneurs At Home?
This article is adapted from AQ’s print issue on entrepreneurship. To see our AQ Top 5 list of young entrepreneurs in Latin America, click here. When Bruno Santiago first came up with his idea for a business travel app that combines commercial and private jet databases, he sat down and wrote a list of pros and … Read more
The Double Standard Facing Latin America’s Women Entrepreneurs
Vilma Tellez Ballesteros has been a coffee producer for most of her life, running a successful business from her home in northern Nicaragua for more than two decades. But when she goes to the bank to negotiate loans, she brings her husband with her. “They listen to him,” her daughter, Carmen Davila Tellez, told AQ. … Read more
Venezuela’s Life-Saving Social Networks
Amid supermarket rationing and lines of empty store shelves, Venezuelans are taking day-to-day survival into their own… smartphones. Twitter, Facebook, and messaging service WhatsApp have become go-to platforms for thousands of Venezuelans as they undertake the increasingly difficult task of finding and paying for everything from cooking oil to cancer medication. @delmercadoencontre (“At the market I … Read more
Apoye “la diplomacia de Silicon Valley” en América Latina
Leer en inglés Estimado(a) Sr(a) Presidente(a): Los líderes mundiales viajan regularmente a Washington, Nueva York o Houston, pero ningún destino es tan anhelado y codiciado como Silicon Valley. Al representar lo mejor de nuestra inclinación hacia la innovación y el espíritu empresarial, la región suscita la envidia del mundo. De hecho, Silicon Valley se ha … Read more
Support “Silicon Valley Diplomacy” in Latin America
Leer en español In the new issue of Americas Quarterly, we asked people, “What would you tell the next U.S. president about Latin America?” To see other authors’ responses, click here. Dear Mister / Madam President, World leaders regularly travel to Washington, New York City, Houston — but no visit is more coveted or anticipated … Read more
Far From Silicon Valley, Cuba Cultivates Startup Scene
The barriers to founding a tech startup in Cuba are high. For starters, hardly anyone has access to internet connections faster than dial-up. But that’s not stopping a generation of young entrepreneurs on the island, where a nascent tech community is challenging the idea that tech innovation has to come from places like Silicon Valley. Two of those … Read more
Where Are Central America’s Real Jobs?
These days, Celso López is a naturopathic doctor living a quiet life on a farm. But during the 1980s, he led a column of about 100 guerrilla fighters in the mountains surrounding San Martin, Guatemala. López said he was “the most wanted man in the area,” with a hefty price on his head, and he … Read more
How Central America Can Make the Most of a $750 Million U.S. Aid Package
The passage of a $750 million U.S. aid package for Central America is an example of the collaboration needed to end violence and rebuild society in the Northern Triangle. As policymakers spend these funds, having the right data to inform spending will be crucial. For over 15 years, INCAE Business School has helped collect and … Read more
How Obama’s Havana Trip Signals a ‘New Normal’ in U.S.-Cuba Relations
For all the pomp and circumstance surrounding U.S. President Barack Obama’s trip to Cuba last week, the visit had a simple goal: to make the administration’s opening to the island impossible to reverse, no matter who wins the White House in November. After spending the week of Obama’s visit in Havana, it is clear to … Read more
Rio’s Big Moment: A Photo Essay
This was supposed to be the year of Rio de Janeiro. The 2016 Olympics were meant to showcase a safer, modernizing city that could not only provide for its more than 6 million citizens, but also play host to a marvelous global party. Unfortunately, it hasn’t turned out that way – Rio has been badly … Read more
Interview: Javier Olivan, Facebook
Facebook began in 2004 as an online social networking service for students at Harvard University. Since then, it has grown into a global enterprise worth over $200 billion, with more than 1 billion active users. In July 2014, the company launched Internet.org, with telecom and other industry partners, in an effort to broaden access to … Read more
Commerce Without Borders: Latin America’s Wired Entrepreneurs
In 2013, Nataliya and Daniel Ulasik started their own business in Quito, Ecuador. The business, EcuaLama, enables Indigenous people in the small Ecuadorian mountain town of Otavalo to sell handmade blankets, ponchos and hats to consumers in 30 countries. The company’s online sales and marketing eventually led to a relationship with a London-based retailer. Today, … Read more
Silicon Valley 2.0
Not too long ago, in a city known for its sunshine and surrounding mountains, a team of young developers submitted their newest creation to Apple’s app store. It was called Typic. Beautiful in its simplicity, it offered a means of artistically embedding text in a photo, along with various filters and other options. After the … Read more
