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On June 6th & 7th, 2017, with a backdrop of the Caribbean sun rising over a white-sandy beach, the Global Startup Ecosystems (GSE) team, founded by Christine Souffrant Ntim, hosted the first annual Haiti Tech Summit in partnership with the Minister of Tourism, at the all-inclusive Royal Decameron Beach Resort in Haiti. Yes, Haiti.

After touring the world attending global conferences spanning Dubai, Russia, Nigeria and San Francisco, Souffrant-Ntim, a Haitian-American, noticed that ecosystems across industries were developing and drawing investments as a result of these events and gatherings. “If these conferences are serving as a catalyst for development and innovation in these communities,” she thought to herself, “why not do this in Haiti?”. With that came the vision to launch the Haiti Tech Summit with a 13-year commitment to gather the world’s most influential investors, entrepreneurs and industry leaders in Haiti – a country often characterized by economic poverty and political instability. The 10-member Haiti Tech Summit team, composed of both local and diaspora Haitians, were driven by the mission to rebrand Haiti and shift the narrative towards its potential to serve as a hub for innovation in the Caribbean.

The team humbly expected an audience of 200 local and international attendees, and instead ended up hosting over 500 entrepreneurs, influencers and speakers all gathered to discuss how technology and innovation could accelerate sectors such as education, government, health, sports, media, culture, agriculture and tourism in Haiti.

On Day 1, the Summit kicked-off with an inspiring and powerful keynote from Ben Horowitz, (Partner and Co-Founder of renown VC firm Andreessen Horowitz,) entitled “To Create Culture, Start a Revolution.” In his keynote, Horowitz, a fan of Haitian liberator, Toussaint L’Overture, paid homage and called for Haitians to change their mindset in order to fuel collaboration and ultimately change the country’s narrative. After a standing ovation, attendees then listened to keynotes and panels from 100+ influencers and speakers from over 18 countries, representing top companies such as Google, Facebook, Airbnb, Linkedin, Uber, Mastercard, Paypal, Github, Singularity, Draper University, Access Haiti, Center for Financial Investments, Hertz and many more.

The end of Day 1 was concluded by Haiti’s President, Jovenel Moise, who addressed the crowd in a moving speech calling for unity and innovation, as well as his administration’s commitment to supporting the Haiti Tech Summit team in helping to advance the nation. Other notable guests over the 2-day Summit included Roy Glasberg from Google’s Launchpad Accelerator, Matt Terrell from Facebook’s Developers Circle, and Vicky Jeudy from Netflix’s Original Series “Orange is the New Black”. Over 40 media outlets attended including representatives from Tech Crunch, NY Times, Essence, Ebony, Black Enterprise, Inc., Forbes, Huffington Post, LoopHaiti, L’Union Suite, Chokarella, Trace Media, Le Nouvelliste and more.

In reflecting on the impact of the Summit, one of the most noteworthy accomplishments was putting Haiti back on the map as one of the most dynamic entrepreneurial ecosystems in the world. This Summit not only helped to galvanize local entrepreneurs, small businesses and government entities but, most importantly, connected them to the international community. One momentus outcome in particular was a young Haitian artificial intelligence researcher named Ben Toussaint who was invited by Roy Glasberg, Head of Google’s Lauchpad Accelerator Program, to Silicon Valley for two weeks in July. During his two-week visit, Toussaint will have the opportunity to mentor startups in Google’s Accelerator program on artificial intelligence. In addition, Luigi Voltaire a local Haitian entrepreneur, was also invited by one of our speakers to Silicon Valley to attend an event focused on investments in emerging markets.

The Haiti Tech Summit sets out to build a community of creators and policy makers determined to reshape the narrative for Haiti not only as a hub for innovation but also an international tourist destination.

The organizers of the Summit are currently laying the groundwork for the next year’s Summit scheduled for June 21-23, 2018. To learn more information, visit www.haititechsummit.com and join the Facebook group.

Contact:

Haiti Tech Summit Team

(E) info@haititechsummit.com

(W) www.haititechsummit.com

(W) www.haititechsummit.com

Silicon Valley Travels to Haiti –

Join 100 Global Speakers for the Largest Tech Event in its History 

May 22, 2017: Port-au-Prince, Haiti – In an effort to accelerate startups and close the digital divide in emerging markets, the Global Startup Ecosystem will be hosting major Summits in developing countries across the globe over the next 13 years. On June 6th & 7th, Haiti will be the first, hosting its largest gathering of entrepreneurs and creatives sharing experiences and insights to tackle humanity’s grandest challenges via technology. The event announcement was made on the eve of Haiti’s 2010 earthquake anniversary on January 12th, and was shared by over 423,000 supporters within 24 hours. The Haiti Tech Summit will be taking place at Decameron Beach Resort in partnership with Haiti’s Minister of Tourism.

To kick-off the Summit, Ben Horowitz (Partner and Co-Founder of renown VC firm Andreessen Horowitz) will lead with a Keynote titled “To Create Culture, Start a Revolution”. His talk will be followed by a series of keynotes and panels from 100+ influencers and speakers from over 18 countries representing top companies such as Google, Airbnb, Linkedin, Microsoft, HP, Tech Stars, Mastercard, Paypal, Github, Drop Box, Galvanize, Pivotal Labs, Send Grid, Singularity, Draper University, the Forbes 30 Under 30 List, Dubai Economy, Puerto Rico’s Parallel 18, Startup Chile, Access Haiti, Center for Financial Investments, Natcom, and more. Over 40 media outlets will be in attendance including representatives from Tech Crunch, NY Times, Essence, Ebony, Black Enterprise, Inc., Fast Company, Forbes, Huffington Post, Atlantic Black Star, Loop, L’Union Suite, Chokarella, and more. Other special guests include Vicky Jeudy from Netflix’s Original Series “Orange is the New Black” and the President of Haiti, Jovenel Moise.

“Haiti is not open for business. Haiti is open for disruption.” says Christine, the founding host of the Haiti Tech Summit. “I plan to not only transform the narrative around Haiti’s brand as a nation but also that of other emerging markets around the world by showcasing their startup ecosystems through annual Tech Summits. If you can equip entrepreneurs to launch their startup and scale it across a population of 11 million people on an island, then you can be confident they’ll be prepared to scale it globally. The current line of participants for our first Summit are true pioneers of startup ecosystems and will definitely inspire startup movements in the future.”- Christine Souffrant Ntim.

Contact:
Haiti Tech Summit Team

(T) 1-347-470-7669
(E) info@haititechsummit.com
(W)www.haititechsummit.com

[Port au Prince, Haiti- April 22, 2017] – Singularity University (SU), a global community using exponential technologies to tackle the world’s biggest challenges and build an abundant future for all, has announced a new partnership with Global Startup Ecosystem to launch a SingularityU Global Impact Challenge” in Haiti for the Caribbean market.Singularity University has hosted many successful “Global Impact Challenges” since 2010 in many countries all over the world. To date, Singularity University has hosted 94 Challenges in 38 countries awarding 121 winners.

The objective of these challenges is spur moonshot innovations to solve world’s greatest global challenges– energy, environment, food, shelter, space, water, disaster resilience, governance, health, learning, prosperity and security– by using exponential technology.

“When it comes to innovation, impact and disruptive entrepreneurship, the Caribbean is consistently overlooked. For the past 6 years, the tech ecosystem has blossomed thanks to the rise of programs and events in emerging market countries like Haiti. With one of the leading populations in the region, hosting this challenge in Haiti will not only revitalize interest in the region’s economic potential but place social impact events in places where it is most needed” -says Christine Souffrant Ntim.

10 Finalists from across the Caribbean were selected for this competition. The winner of this challenge will secure a full sponsorship to attend the prestigious Global Solutions Program at Singularity University. The program runs from June 17 to August 17, 2017.

Here are the concluding announcements:

2017 Singularity Caribbean Runner Up

Ralph Emmanuel Francois (Haiti- Environment|Disaster Resilience)

Melissa Pascal (Trinidad & Tobago- Block Chain Tracking)

2017 Singularity Caribbean Winner

Bevon King (Jamaica- KingCo Foods)

Coming from a strong farming family background, Bevon King always imagined agriculture being done differently. He didn’t just start a company, but a movement to reshape how we think about agriculture, with a vision of creating the self-sustainable communities across the Caribbean and Latin America he always imagined. Using the most modern technologies in agriculture, KingCo Foods involves more people and organizations in the production of organic fruits and vegetables, enabling partners to generate income while having positive social and environmental impact.

King and Company Foods achieves this by bringing in a new era of Agritech Consulting, where individuals and organizations can maximize the earning potential of their property by ‘farming it out’. This is made possible through autonomous and soil-less farming technology, which makes growing food a lot like producing energy with a solar panel. Offerings currently include Agritech Consulting, Hydroponic System Design and Installation, Maintenance, and Resale of produce to third parties like hotels, restaurants, and supermarket chains.

Bevon seeks to maintain world class levels of social responsibility and food safety certification. KingCo Foods has planned a campaign to educate and train students in modern agricultural practices, breaking stereotypes and ensuring that future generations are more involved in agricultural production.

Graduate of Richard Branson Centre. 

As an added bonus- all 10 finalists are invited to showcase their startups at the Haiti Tech Summit on June 6-7, 2017. The Haiti Tech Summit is the largest gathering of entrepreneurs, innovators, and influencers leveraging tech to impact the future of humanity. It is a cultural tech festival that highlights the importance of startup ecosystems to either create or disrupt industries across all disciplines- from food to commerce to music and more. 

The central theme of the 2017 global summit is to catalyze startup ecosystems in emerging markets. Day one is centered on “Drivers of startup ecosystems” with a deep dive look at the contributions of VC fund managers, angel investors, accelerators, incubators and media reporters on tech innovation hubs around the world. Day two is centered on “Disruptors of startup economies” with an analysis exponential technologies in transforming future industries via Ai, virtual reality, genomics, robotics, space, etc.