Endeavor
invited 17 High-Impact Entrepreneurs from Brazil, Colombia, Jordan,
Lebanon, Mexico, and Uruguay at its 44th International
Selection Panel. Endeavor now supports 708 High-Impact Entrepreneurs
from 443 companies in 13 growth market countries. The entrepreneurs were
chosen at a Panel held from June 25 - 27 in London, UK. The Panel was
followed by a full-day Investor Network event, engaging 18 leading
investment firms and more than two dozen early- and growth-stage
companies that Endeavor invited from 12 growth markets including Brazil,
Argentina, Jordan, Turkey, South Africa, and Indonesia.
“High-Impact Entrepreneurship has become a global movement. By holding
this judging panel and Investor Network event in the world’s global
financial center, we were able to attract panelists from 12 countries,”
said Endeavor co-founder and CEO Linda
Rottenberg. “Panelists included high-level executives from companies
including Amazon, Bain, Barclays, Ernst & Young, and Microsoft. We also
welcomed venture capital experts from Silicon Valley to Amman and Dubai.”
While the panelists deliberated, the candidates enjoyed a day-long
educational program at the UK headquarters of Facebook, where they heard
from several top executives.
At the Investor Network event, attendees participated in workshops,
several customized “speed-networking” rounds, and informal networking.
Endeavor Entrepreneurs have had a significant track record of creating
thousands of jobs and building sustainable growth models in their home
countries. The International Selection Panel is the culmination of a
rigorous multi-step Search
& Selection process where top local and international business
leaders interview and then offer guidance to entrepreneur candidates.
Post-selection, Endeavor provides entrepreneurs with customized services
provided by local business mentors and volunteers from Fortune 500
companies, consulting firms and top U.S. business schools. Additionally,
Endeavor’s Catalyst program co-invests in Endeavor Entrepreneurs’
professional funding rounds.
Endeavor will host two more International Selection Panels this year in
Istanbul (October) and Miami (December).
Entrepreneur(s)/Companies selected:
Brazil
Entrepreneur: Leonardo Lima de Carvalho
Company: ToLife
Description: ToLife makes the patient intake and care processes safer
and more efficient through products that reduce the average wait time
for treatment, assist in determining how to triage patients, and lower
the risk of error in generating patient records.
Entrepreneurs: Luiz Noronha, Marco Ferras
Company: Britec
Description: Britec offers an innovative solution for construction
demolition followed by the crushing and recycling of rock into gravel.
With highly mobile machinery, Britec provides an on-site solution for
construction companies, which helps them reduce the cost and time
required to remove rubble and bring in gravel.
Colombia
Entrepreneur: Diego Saez-Gil
Company: WeHostels
Description: WeHostels is building the first social-mobile accommodation
booking service, initially targeted at young backpackers. The service
offers a simple yet powerful set of social features: users can not only
browse and book different hostels around the world but can also see who
else will be staying in each accommodation, allowing them to find
travelers with shared interests, friends, or travel destinations.
Through WeHostels, travelers can connect, interact, share tips, and plan
activities together within the platform, even before arriving at their
destination. The products are designed mobile-first for the “post-pc”
era, considering that travelers are increasingly planning their trips
from mobile devices.
Jordan
Entrepreneurs: Fadi Bargouti & Majdy Abo Mathkoor
Company: Curlstone
Description: Curlstone is an animation studio that creates original IP
for 2D and 3D content (such as video and games) on a variety of
platforms, including TV, film, and mobile and web-based channels. The
studio is aiming to become a regional player through a Middle Eastern
cultural focus in some of their projects while simultaneously
establishing an international body of work.
Entrepreneurs: Jalil Allabadi
Company: Altibbi
Description: Altibbi provides Arabic-speakers across the world with a
comprehensive online medical health portal entirely in Arabic. Altibbi’s
users enjoy free access to a medical dictionary of over 65,000 terms, a
“symptom checker”, health-related news and videos, Q&A opportunities
with qualified doctors, and a directory of medical institutions in the
Middle East and abroad.
Lebanon
Entrepreneur: Brahms Chouity
Company: At7addak
Description: At7addak (“I challenge you” in Arabic) is the first gaming
community catering to the Arab world. The company hosts in-person game
tournaments sponsored by the likes of EA and Activision and has a
website where gamers in the region can find English and Arabic game
reviews, videos, and chat rooms. The website also enables registered
users to challenge each other to their favorite titles on existing
platforms (console, PC, mobile) and At7addak’s “Automated Scoring
software” uploads their scores to their At7addak profiles.
Entrepreneur: Rabih Nassar
Company: ElementN
Description: ElementN consists of two separate business divisions, the
first a highly customized enterprise software solution for telco
operators and the second a highly scalable back-end solution for mobile
developers.
Entrepreneur: Taline Assi
Company: Mosaic
Marble
Description: Mosaic Marble is the leading mosaic producer in the Middle
East. The company’s mosaics are featured in over 15,000 homes across 13
different countries, including the residences of the King of Congo,
Queen Alia of Jordan, and Oprah Winfrey herself. Employing 400 artisans
across Lebanon and Syria, Taline is a role model for female
entrepreneurs in the region.
Mexico
Entrepreneur: Gabriela León
Company: Gresmex
Description: Gresmex produces a line of surgical and medical
disinfectants that features Virufin, its proprietary, bioselective
active ingredient that is effective against almost all pathogens and
safer for healthy cells than other disinfectants. Gresmex also has a
private label business that produces products for Walmart and other
similar retailers to resell using their brands.
Entrepreneurs: Diego Solórzano Cervantes & Jimena Pardo Díaz
Company: Carrot
Description: As Mexico’s first car sharing service, Carrot seeks to make
it as easy and convenient as possible for individuals to get around
Mexico City—a metropolis of over 20 million people—by allowing its
customers to rent cars by the hour or day at key locations around the
city.
Entrepreneurs: Hector Sepulveda, Luis de Yturbe
Company: Litebuilt
Description: Serial entrepreneurs Hector Sepulveda and Luis de Yturbe
never believed there needed to be a tradeoff between environmental
impact and bottom line results. In 2008 they developed a LEGO shaped
cement block that is both environmentally friendly and up to 30% less
expensive than traditional bricklaying practices. Since then Litebuilt’s
construction materials have become a favorite of construction companies
across Mexico.
Uruguay
Entrepreneurs: Daniel Armand-Ugon & Nicolas Batlle
Company: ConectaGames
Description: Since 2009, Uruguay-based ConectaGames has been creating
multiplayer online and mobile versions of the most popular board and
card games of each of the eleven countries in which it operates,
including Argentina, Brazil, Portugal, Chile, Spain and Uruguay.
About Endeavor
Hailed by New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman as “the best
anti-poverty program of all,” Endeavor is leading the global movement to
catalyze long-term economic growth by selecting, mentoring, and
accelerating the best high-impact entrepreneurs around the
world. To date, Endeavor has screened more than 30,000 entrepreneurs and
selected 708 individuals leading 443 high-impact companies.
With support from Endeavor’s worldwide mentor network, these high-impact
entrepreneurs:
-Have created over 180,000 jobs
-Generated over $5 billion in revenues in 2011
-Inspire future generations to innovate and take risks
Headquartered in New York City, Endeavor currently operates in 15
countries throughout Latin America, Africa, Southeast Asia and the
Middle East. As the high-impact movement expands globally, Endeavor will
continue to prove that anyone with a big idea can succeed, from Silicon
Valley to Latin America, the Middle East, and beyond.
