Duplessy Foundation
The Duplessy Foundation was founded in Boston by Derrick Duplessy to help women, immigrant, and minority entrepreneurs grow their companies. Between 2015 and 2019 they helped entrepreneurs generate $3.9M in revenue. It’s their mission to help more people do meaningful work.
I joined the Foundation to help organize and host a Design Hackathon for a young south american entrepreneur.
LaunchX MIT
LaunchX is an entrepreneurship program that taps into the potential of ambitious high school students, supporting them through the process of launching an actual startup.
Each batch of promising young entrepreneurs from around the globe spends four intense weeks learning from industry experts and working in groups of peer co-founders to build real products and solve business challenges in viable ways. These startups are driven by using the design thinking process to discover innovative opportunities, backed by extensive market research, multiple iterations of prototypes and user testing, and gaining traction through getting real customers and partnerships.
Currently LaunchX has 4 locations around the United States, associated with major Universities. I joined the MIT Cambridge program in 2019, where I became a mentor and advisor for 2 batches of young entrepreneurs.
Venture Development Center
The University of Massachusetts opened the VDC in 2009 to enable the most promising entrepreneurial talent from around the world, whatever their university, to move or remain in Boston after graduation to realize their dreams. Today, their thriving community includes entrepreneurs in residence launching innovative technology and life science companies in their award-winning incubator. They are joined by talented students from the university itself preparing for careers in fast growing venture capital backed companies under the guidance of their mentors.
I joined the VDC as a Global Entrepreneur in Residence, where I mentored students with innovative business/product ideas, helping them start their own companies. I was also a guest lecturer in selected classes, member of the jury in final presentations and panelist in entrepreneurship and innovation events.
