PANEL: Emerging and Developing Markets
As markets across the globe continue to open and grow, entrepreneurial opportunities abound. Yet, markets that withhold the greatest potential are often laden with challenges stemming from their unique cultural, economic and political environments. Naturally, these challenges impact entrepreneurs. The Emerging and Developing Markets panel will examine what it takes to make it happen in such markets, from overcoming cultural barriers to navigating the socio-political landscape, and capturing opportunities for growth.
Panelists
PANELISTS:
>> Jonatan Altszul
Co-founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors, Core Security Technologies
Jonatan Altszul is the co-founder of Core Security Technologies and the Chairman of its Board of Directors. Core Security Technologies develops strategic security solutions for Fortune 1000 corporations, government agencies and military organizations. The company, founded in Buenos Aires and now headquartered in Boston, offers information security software and services designed to assess risk and protect and manage information assets.
Prior to founding CORE, Mr. Altszul was a member of the Special Projects Group at the Argentine tax agency. This elite group evaluated and developed critical hardware and software security products in billion dollar projects for the agency. Before that, in 1989 he founded and, until 1992, served as the CEO of Datyl Systems, a company that developed the first commercial Geographical Information Systems software in Latin America.
In 2000, while leading CORE as its CEO, Endeavor Global, Inc., a non-profit supporter of entrepreneurship in emerging markets, selected Mr. Altszul as a top entrepreneur of the year. Recently, Mr. Altszul has been invited by the Argentine Government to become a member of the "Foro Nacional de Competitividad Industrial de Software y Servicios Informáticos" to develop the country's Software Industry long term strategy. Jonatan Altszul actively supports the development of the High Tech Sector in Argentina.
Mr. Altszul studied mathematics at the University of Buenos Aires, likes swimming and is a former BASE Jumper. Married to Barbara and proud father of two children, he lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
>> Krassen Draganov
Co-Founder and CEO, Netage Solutions, Inc.
Krassen Draganov is the CEO and co-founder of Netage Solutions, Inc. For over 5 years, Netage Solutions, Inc. has been the preferred provider of front-office software to the alternative assets community, with over 60 industry clients worldwide. Its products address the Private Equity, Hedge and Fund of Funds' needs for deal and pipeline management, investor relationship management, fund manager due diligence, and online investor reporting.
In the three years prior to Netage, Mr. Draganov was the Technology Director at Summit Partners, a leading global private equity and venture capital firm with a capital base in excess of $5 billion and offices in Boston, Palo Alto and London. Prior to Summit, Mr. Draganov ran a desktop publishing company he founded in 1991.
Krassen Draganov received a Master of Science in Finance degree from Boston College's Carrol School of Management. He also holds a BA degree in Business Administration from the American University in Bulgaria.
>> Iqbal Z. Quadir
Founder, GrameenPhone Ltd.
Iqbal Z. Quadir is the founder of GrameenPhone Ltd. Mr. Quadir spent most of the 1990s founding and building GrameenPhone Ltd., which involved organizing a global consortium of eight entities, including the primary telephone company in Norway and the micro-credit pioneer Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. He developed a practical distribution scheme for this project whereby small entrepreneurs, backed by loans from Grameen Bank, could retail telephone services to their surrounding communities. To date, it has built the largest cellular network in the country with investments approaching $300 million and a subscriber base of more than one million. Its rural program is already available in than 35,000 villages, creating that many micro-entrepreneurs while providing telephone access to more than 50 million people.
Mr. Quadir's work has been recognized by the World Bank, United Nations, World Economic Forum (WEF), and Aspen Institute. He appeared on CNN and PBS and was profiled in feature articles in Harvard Business Review, Financial Times and The New York Times, and in several books. The WEF, based in Geneva, selected him as a "Global Leader for Tomorrow." Since 2001, Mr. Quadir has taught at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. His research interest is in designing economically sustainable projects and technologies that disperse power and promote democracies.
Iqbal Quadir is an active board member or adviser to several companies and organizations involved in international development. He earned an MBA and an MA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and a BS with honors from Swarthmore College
>> Joseph J. Rosenberg
CEO and Chairman of the Board, EduFund International, Inc.
Joseph J. Rosenberg presently serves as Chairman of the Board and CEO of EduFund International, Inc. and its subsidiary, Global Student Loan Corporation. Global Student Loan Corporation is a leader in international educational finance having facilitated financing for students in over 25 countries worldwide.
An attorney who earned his undergraduate degree in political science at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University (BA) and his law degree at Brooklyn Law School (JD), Mr. Rosenberg has specialized in financial transactions with emphasis on real estate, education and international corporate matters. Internationally, he has worked with U.S. and foreign companies and governments in designing international strategies and project financings, particularly in Asia and Central and Eastern Europe. In addition, he has served as an advisor to universities both in the U.S. and abroad on strategic planning for international issues, and has served as a board member, trustee or advisor for a variety of corporate, educational and not-for-profit entities.
Mr. Rosenberg was an adjunct Professor at New York University School of Continuing and Professional Studies and served as Chairman of the Board of Overseers of its Institute for International Enterprise Education, where he originated and directed programs throughout the world. Since the early 1970's he has spoken extensively in the United States and internationally on real estate, financial and transactional topics.
At the invitation of governments and private groups in Eastern and Central Europe, such as Ukraine, other CIS republics and the Czech Republic, as well as in Japan and the United States, he has helped develop programs in finance, banking, management and education. He was invited by the government of Budapest to chair a strategic program for city officials on real estate, taxation and city planning and served as chairman of the first Biotechnology and Business Conference in Prague, Czech Republic, which was attended by over 300 scientists, bankers and corporate executives from 17 countries.
MODERATOR:
>> Louis T. Wells
Herbert F. Johnson Professor of International Management, Harvard Business School
Professor Louis T. Wells is the Herbert F. Johnson Professor of International Management at the Harvard Business School. He has served as consultant to governments of a number of developing countries, as well as to international organizations and private firms. His principal consulting activities have been concerned with foreign investment policy and with negotiations between foreign investors and host governments.
His research interests include multinational enterprises; international business-government relations; foreign investment in developing countries; and foreign investment by firms from developing countries. He was the Coordinator for Indonesia Projects, Harvard Institute for International Development, Jakarta, Indonesia, in 1994-5. His associations include: Fellow -Academy of International Business, member - Foreign Advisory Board - Lahore Business School, and member - Council on Foreign Relations.
Professor Wells received a BS in Physics from Georgia Tech and his MBA and DBA from the Harvard Business School.
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