The Global Startup Movement - Startup Ecosystem Leaders, Global Entrepreneurship, and Emerging Market Innovation

Nicolas Brien is the CEO of France Digitale, the largest startup lobbying organization in Europe, with 1,500 startups and 100 VCs as its members, as well as the newly appointed President of the European Startup Network, a common voice for European startups composed of 24 national startup associations from across Europe. He previously was the Director of Studies of Kantar-TNS Sofres (WPP) and a senior advisor to Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, the Spokeswoman of the French Government.

On this episode you'll learn:

Why the European Startup Network released an official call for a Buy European Tech act, to allow federal governments to favor domestic startups in their public procurement process.

When did global tech companies like Google and Facebook start to be associated with negative geopolitical consequences amongst European countries?

How does the lack of MandA culture amongst European corporations get changed to provide more exit options within the local startup ecosystems across the continent?

Inbal Arieli is a founder of Synthesis, a global leadership assessment rm, and author of Chutzpah: Why Israel Is a Hub of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Born in Israel and raised on hummus and chutzpah, Arieli fostered her entrepreneurial skills during her mandatory military service, serving as lieutenant in unit 8200, the Israel Defense Forces’ elite intelligence corps. After completing her military duties, and for the past twenty years, she embraced leading executive roles in the flourishing Israeli tech sector and has founded a series of programs for innovators, where she currently holds board seats.

Arieli holds an LL.B. Law, B.A in Economics and an MBA, all from Tel Aviv University. A force to be reckoned with, she was featured as one of the 100 most influential people in Israeli tech and as one of the top 100 tech business women speakers in the world. She lives in Tel Aviv with her spouse and their three sons.

Host Andrew Berkowitz highlights the 5 digital nomad visas that are available from Caribbean countries as we head into Winter.

Justin Bannon, CEO and Co-founder of Boson Protocol, a decentralized infrastructure connecting smart contracts to real world commerce and its data.

Boson Protocol aims to change the world of commerce by enabling enterprises, organizations, and customers to bridge the divide between digital decentralized technologies and the transfer and trade of physical goods. Creating the de facto infrastructure to achieve this with minimized arbitration, cost, and trust, Boson Protocol is taking eCommerce to the next level with use cases including; loyalty and rewards, crypto exchanges, games, and tokenized networks amongst others.

Leading the charge at Boson Protocol is serial entrepreneur Justin Banon. Justin previously spearheaded the Travel Experiences Division of Collinson, where he managed a group of global loyalty rewards platforms including LoungeKey, Mastercard Airport Experiences, and Priority Pass — the latter of which he scaled twenty-fold from $50m to $1bn per annum revenue during his tenure.

On this episode you'll learn:

1. How does arbitration work on a decentralized protocol? [5:23]

2. How can small crypto and blockchain to take on giant corporations? [13:31]

3. Which is currently the bigger challenge for DeFi startups, the technical challenge or the user adoption challenge? [18:33]

In 2021, The GSM will transition away from our weekly flagship episode to a recurring mini-series format. Our first mini-series, Ecosystem Arabia, will launch in January 2021 and feature stories, candid insights, and conversation with some of the MENA region's leading startup ecosystem stakeholders. On this episode we go back 3 years to revisit one of our first podcast mini-series, breaking down the pillars that make up a thriving startup ecosystem.

Tsolmondorj Natsagdorj is the Cofounder and CEO of YungBet is a blockchain decentralized social gaming platform that provides a secure, reliable, borderless ecosystem. He was born in Mongolian. and grew up in the US, while a student at George Mason he started Tokenplay, a blockchain gaming distribution platform in 2017 that was acquired within a year for $2.4M. He then traveled back to Ulaandbaatar, Mongolia where he helped to build up the nascent blockchain and cryptocurrency ecosystem there and now advises multiple Mongolian startups and ecosystem stakeholders.

On this episode you'll learn:

Does the Mongolian consist of mostly expats and foreign tech companies or are there more local entrepreneurs getting traction?

What traditional sectors are the biggest in Mongolia that should be the target of innovators and disruptors?[6:30]

Does Mongolia present a fertile landscape for cryptocurrency and blockchain entrepreneurs?[12:00]

Jeroen Corthout is the co-founder and CEO of Salesflare, a simply powerful CRM that automates data to build better relationships and make more sales. It's a fast, visual and easy-to-use sales machine. Salesflare is the most popular CRM ever on both Product Hunt and AppSumo. It also got featured on TechCrunch and Entrepreneur.com. Prior to Salesflare, Jeroen was helping companies to implement their new CRM, marketing and sales. Jeroen is also a founder of Doctura that works with tech startups and healthcare companies and fuses modern technology with new ways of doing business.

On this episode you'll learn:

1. In what ways has the Belgium startup ecosystem evolved over the past couple years? [5:35]

2. What policies implemented by the European Commission have been truly helpful in creating a unified European market for startups to expand across? [14:50]

3. In it's current form, what is the biggest weakness in the Belgium ecosystem? [19:01]

Host Andrew Berkowitz covers 4 key macro trends that have been greatly accelerated by COVID-19 in 2020 and are opening up new and exciting opportunities in the global startup ecosystem.

Douglas Ogeto is the coFounder and CEO at LudiqueWorks and has built the largest community of game developers on the continent. He is an entrepreneur with 8+ years of experience in Technology, Branding and Community Building. He has co-founded 4 startups in Game development, Education, Advisory and Branding and has played a key role in designing, planning and execution of entrepreneurship and impact related projects in Sub-Saharan and West Africa, having worked both in the private and NGO sector.

On this episode you'll learn:

1. What is the biggest hindrance to African Esports taking a broader spot in the global industry? [6:32]

2. What companies and games are investing in Africa to support a league? [7:40]

3. What are the most played consoles across Africa? [12:15]

Part 2 of a 2 part miniseries on the topic of innovation in infrastructure in emerging economies. As a result of the twin crises in public health and the global economy, inequities in the current economic paradigm have been laid bare, as have debilitating weaknesses in global supply chains delivering critical goods.

Decisions made today shape the built environment of tomorrow. The continent with the fastest growing economy today is Africa, and this will continue to increase. This week's speakers will shine a light on the African continent, share a diversity of perspectives and challenges from the private and public sector, and offer solutions for sustainable, equitable infrastructure development in the 21st century.

On this episode you'll learn:

1. What does the current road infrastructure in Africa look like? [4:53]

2. What does the current state of ICT infrastructure across Africa look like? [11:50]

3. What are some alternatives for investing in early stage in Africa? [21:15]