13 YEAR INITIATIVE- HAITI TECH SUMMIT RETURNS FOR 2ND YEAR FEATURING JACK DORSEY FOUNDER OF TWITTER

[Port- au – Prince, Haiti- June 5, 2018] Haiti Tech Summit, founded by Forbes 30 Under 30 Entrepreneur, Mother and Wife, Christine Souffrant Ntim, is a 13- year initiative of the Global Startup Ecosystem (GSE) which brings together hundreds of entrepreneurs, investors, digital marketers and creatives together to Haiti to accelerate tech, innovation and economic development within the country. With hotel packages sold out- the summit still has a few day passes left that can be booked via www.HaitiTechSummit.com.

In 2017, Haiti  hosted 100 global speakers from around the world. The summit generated over 83 million social media impressions, 87 global press mentions and welcomed over 500 guests for 2 historic days tuning it into the region’s largest tech gathering and Haiti’s first major international global summit.

Hosting an event of this magnitude  in Haiti not only aims to revitalize economic activity in the country but to also provide a new narrative for Haiti and emerging markets. “Haiti is not open for business. Haiti is open for disruption” Christine Ntim (Founder).

Companies represented last year included Silicon Valley giants such as Google, Facebook, Uber, Airbnb, Facebook, Paypal, Mastercard, Linkedin, Github, Dropbox, Sendgrid, Youtube, and Adobe. Headline speakers included the President of Haiti, His Excellency Jovenel Moise, Venture Capitalist investor of Airbnb and Facebook Ben Horowitz, Former Editor in Chief of Ebony Magazine Kyra Kyles, Founder of Draper Associates and Draper University- Tim Draper,  and celebrity influencers such as Vicky Jeudy from Netflix series Orange is the New Black and music artists Michael Brun and J Perry. Ecosystem enabler networks included Steve Blank’s Launchpad, Galvanize, Puerto Rico’s Parallel 18, Pivotal Labs, Angel Hack Accelerator, WIN Lab, Startup Grind, Forbes 30 Under 30 listmakers, Brazil’s Laiob-Latin America Institute of Business, and Alter Ventures. The summit also welcomed leading local networks such as Royal Decameron, Ministry of Tourism, Centre for Facilitation of Investments (CFI), National Council of Telecommunications-Conatel, The Central Bank, French Chamber of Commerce, Access Haiti, and Fotokonbit. Media represented included Forbes, Inc Magazine, Fast Company, Techcrunch, Black Enterprise, Ebony Magazine, NY Times, Atlantic Black Star, Haitian Times, Chokarella, Trace Media, Loop Haiti, Le Nouvelliste, Ayibo Post, Metropol, and Radio Caribe.

The summit also generated tangible immediate impact driven items for both the public and private sector. As highlighted in the 2017 Haiti Tech Summit Impact Report, Airbnb was able to close a 5 year agreement with the Ministry of Tourism, Facebook launched the country’s first internationally recognized developer community, and Google Launchpad launched an accelerator program to source and support the country’s leading startups. Furthermore, the president of Haiti announced the country’s first national incubator for entrepreneurs to be located in the nation’s capital- Port Au Prince. The incubator- Alpha Haiti- launched in the first week of June.

The summit will return on  June 21-23, 2018 at Royal Decameron with all major networks featured in 2017 and has already announced leading partners and sponsors such as the US Embassy of Haiti and Intuit. More lead sponsors and partners to be announced.

To kick off the event, headline speaker Jack Dorsey was announced at the 2018 Annual Haiti Tech Summit Ecosystem Meeting with the country’s top government officials, private sector executives, media influencers and summit sponsors. Jack Dorsey co-founded Twitter, Inc. in 2006 and returned as Chief Executive Officer in September 2015. Jack also co-founded Square, where he serves as CEO and Chairman. Jack also serves on the Board of The Walt Disney Company. Jack Dorsey will be speaking at the summit to discuss his experiences launching and scaling two globally recognized tech startups that both aim to “simplify complexity’- Twitter via communication and Square via financial inclusion. The summit will welcome hundreds of local and international entrepreneurs who will be hearing Jack Dorsey’s insights on leadership, entrepreneurship and business.

Tickets are now live via www.HaitiTechSummit.com. For sponsors interested in being invited to the event or  included in the next press announcement, please email interest to info@haititechsummit.com.