Germán López gazes into the computer’s camera, as he has countless times during the interview, with his charismatic smile punctuating each phrase. He comes to a realization that despite having a German passport, he has never truly felt like one.

It’s not uncommon for him to express his sense of foreignness about the land of beer and medieval castles. Despite emigrating from Guayaquil at the young age of 18, after graduating as an engineer and founding his first startup, Lopez lived a nomadic life during this stage of his life.

López, the globetrotter and natural entrepreneur, lived in Brazil, Spain, and Denmark, consistently involved in digital advertising businesses. He came of age and recognized the booming e-commerce scene in the Old Continent. He then specialized in affiliate marketing, involving the purchase of advertising space in various digital channels, including social networks, to resell to companies or brands.

Publifyer, became his post-pandemic platform, following three previous attempts. His latest venture, Contifico, was a tremendous success, providing him with the capital to seek this new venture that would impact society beyond just profits.

In Latin America, the influencer marketing industry saw significant growth during the COVID-19 crisis, leading López to create Publifyer. The platform empowers micro and nano influencers, professionalizing their role and transforming the lives of over 100 content creators associated with the platform.

B2C companies in Latin America allocate substantial budgets to influencer marketing, typically between 5% and 7% of their advertising budget. Publifyer serves as a bridge between brands and content creators, facilitating campaign uploads and fee payments based on content performance metrics.

Participating in Mana Tech’s Miami Immersion Program in August expanded his international perspective, preparing Publifyer for a significant presence throughout Latin America. López credits Jeff Snider, Mana Tech Mentor, and Etienne Gillard, Head of Ventures at Mana Tech, for their insights into the American market and investor mentality, as this is his first experience with financial investment capital.

As his family expands with the arrival of his child, López envisions settling in Miami, providing accessibility to Guayaquil, Ecuador, where he engaged in entrepreneurial ventures during his university days.

Maintaining humility despite his rapid journey is a testament to his commitment to improving the lives of young Latin Americans, a mission he holds dear.

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Álvaro Carrasco, a 34-year-old from Copiapó, Chile, had an epiphany about “social entrepreneurship” during the final semester of his Business degree. The idea drove him to question something he had pondered a lot during his college years: “Are numbers the only thing that matters in business?”

At the age of 24, Carrasco went out for a walk with his thesis partner, Patricio Marín. They enjoyed the educational environment so much that, instead of taking a final exam, they chose to develop a project linked to this sector in order to graduate.

In only a few months, they developed an online platform prototype that allowed middle and high school students to interact with teachers and provide feedback on their classes. Improving educational quality by digitizing communication between students, teachers, and authorities presented highly beneficial measures. As a result, the Faculty of Economy and Business of the National University of Chile accepted their proposal.

However, the project took a personal turn for Carrasco due to his experiences with school violence. When going through the messages from one of the Chilean schools chosen to carry out the pilot test, they stumbled upon a confession – a revelation made under the anonymity of Carrasco’s project, though that wasn’t its original purpose.

A ninth-grade girl recounted reading discriminatory messages against her Colombian ethnicity in the school bathroom. She desperately tried to erase the insults written on the walls. These inscriptions not only instructed her to leave the country but also expressed explicit disdain towards her. This experience led Carrasco to fully grasp the enormity of the problem unfolding right before him.

Months later, he and his partner, who are still friends to this day, both graduated with degrees in Business, but unfortunately disagreed on what to do with the project. After discussing it, they decided to go their separate ways.

Carrasco was convinced that, in business, numbers weren’t everything. He understood his partner’s viewpoint, who highlighted that establishing the foundation of BRAVE UP! by concentrating on school violence entailed getting into a humanly complex matter that demanded extensive research.

However, Carrasco reasoned that his father, Ives, does not build buildings solely because they are profitable. As a child, he was fascinated by the magic of witnessing a condominium emerge where there had only been an empty lot. As he grew up, he came to understand that what his father builds is known as social housing – a project that offers accessible credit so that families with fewer resources can afford their own homes.

This conviction solidified Carrasco’s mentality, leading to the development of BRAVE UP! as a digital sociogram. The algorithm embedded in the platform takes 20 minutes to provide a precise analysis of how interpersonal dynamics unfold among students both within and beyond the class setting. It detects possible conflicts, and identifies mediators in each classroom.

In 2014, the Organization of American States (OAS) recognized BRAVE UP! as the social innovation venture of the year. In 2015, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) also acknowledged BRAVE UP!. Three years later, they restructured the company and won the go!ODS (Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations Organization) award for contributing to educational quality by improving student life.

On two different occasions, the team reached out to Mana Tech, which became a key partnership in the company’s expansion. The first time they reached out was in 2021 when BRAVE UP! planned to enter the US market after expanding through Latin America. During this period, they connected with mentors, advisors, and subsequent investors, leading to a perfectly executed soft landing in Miami.

In 2022, with Carrasco already settled in New York, they returned to Miami to complete another program with Mana Tech, exclusively designed for educational technology ventures. Linking with peers, and the intervention of Carlos Vázquez, CEO of Miami EdTech, became essential for them to win clients and establish themselves in the most competitive market in the world.

Today, with the company valued at $12 million, Carrasco has no intentions of selling. He relishes the knowledge that he is following in his father’s footsteps, having built a technological tool whose success confirms that it is possible to do good business while also helping build a better society.

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It was 2018, and winter raged in Maldonado State, Uruguay, just minutes away from La Mansa beach, where the Uruguayan Argentine Institute stood resilient against the sea’s might. Inside the doors of Punta del Este’s most prestigious bilingual school, Luispe, always seated in the front row by the window, shared the space with his best friend, Juan Manuel Rodríguez, known as Lolo.

Both excelling students, they decided to venture into engineering in their senior year, cherishing newfound free time to play with their cellphones, discuss different topics, and, most importantly, eat.

Luispe, full name Luis Pedro Carrero Mautoni, religiously ate at the school restaurant since Kindergarten, embracing life’s structure and certainties, while Lolo, with three brothers and divorced parents, navigated life’s improvisations.

Lolo was naturally skilled with computers but indifferent to sports. He usually brought lunch from home, occasionally reaching for the school restaurant’s menu.

Around 11:00AM one morning, Lolo realized he forgot to order food from the school restaurant during the last recess. He quickly calculated that at 1:40PM, he would have 30 minutes to eat, but 15 minutes would be lost waiting in line. With any luck and no transgressions, he would have to devour his meal in less than ten minutes. He also had to remember to write down how much he owed in his family’s account since the school didn’t accept money from students.

“It would be amazing if we could order our meals using our phones,” he told his lifelong friend, with a frustrated tone, not realizing the beginning of a groundbreaking idea.

With a spark now lit, they shared the concept with their long-time friend Matías Cravioto, a natural leader and the third member of this innovative trio.

Events unfolded rapidly, and their tech solution, although well-received at school, remained unnamed until they presented it at the Idea Lab for a local incubator.

As a result, OrderEAT secured $4K in funding from the National Agency for Research and Innovation (ANII) of Uruguay in December 2018. With this budget, they validated their Minimum Viable Product (MVP), allowing them to present the project to the National Development Agency in 2019. They received $20K in funding to expand within the national market and set foot in Argentina.

By this time, the three founders had already started their college careers, pursuing higher education while simultaneously working on OrderEAT. It only made sense, considering their consistent dedication to improving themselves. Matías was an Olympic volleyball player until two pneumothoraces ended his athletic career. Luispe was a sailor and competed even during the first year of college. And Lolo, continued computer programming.

OrderEAT’s growth knew no bounds, and its founders were encouraged to pitch in the Innovative Entrepreneurs Program at ANII. Shortly afterward, they secured $70K in funding, which was used to rebuild the platform from scratch.

Despite the challenges due to the health restrictions in 2020, the trio persevered, with Matías as the CEO, Lolo as the CTO, and Luispe as the CCO. By the time everything returned to normal, their parents began to understand that their children’s college careers were no longer the sole priority.

Since last year, everything has been about OrderEAT, especially after the successful seed round funding of $300K, as a result of having participated in Uruguay XXI & BID – Building The Bridge 2022. The program, coordinated by Mana Tech and Base Miami, culminated in an in-person event in Punta del Este.

Today, settled in Mexico alongside Luispe, Matías reminisces about the mentorship of Etienne Gillard, while his friend, in charge of sales in one of the largest Hispanic markets, highlights the conversations he’s shared with Charly Esnal and Matías Barbero.

With a team of 16 employees distributed throughout Latin America, this close-knit group, all under the age of 25, look towards the horizon knowing that the next big leap awaits them in the United States market.

They are not afraid, nor are they worried. They are living the most extraordinary dream of their lives.

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