South Summit Brazil is a success that boosts Porto Alegre as a capital of entrepreneurship and innovation

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South Summit Brazil is a success that boosts Porto Alegre as a capital of entrepreneurship and innovation

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South Summit Brazil, the leading meeting of the entrepreneurial ecosystem co-organised by IE University and the Government of Rio Grande do Sul, inaugurated its third edition yesterday, Wednesday, March 20. Under the slogan "Decoding Complexity", South Summit Brazil 2024 will bring together, until Friday, March 22, the main actors and experts of the entrepreneurial ecosystem from Latin America and the rest of the world in the city of Porto Alegre.

María Benjumea, founder and president of South Summit, said at the welcome ceremony in Porto Alegre that "South Summit Brazil is a success of collaboration between all the entrepreneurship actors involved, and this collaboration has been key to positioning Brazil and Porto Alegre as the capital of entrepreneurship and innovation."

The opening ceremony was attended by Juan José Güemes, Vice President for Economic Affairs at IE University and President of the IE Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, who highlighted that "IE University is an institution founded by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs. 30% of our graduates become entrepreneurs throughout their professional careers. Entrepreneurship is part of our DNA, and that's why we're excited to be part of South Summit, an extraordinary adventure to support entrepreneurs and drive their growth around the world."

In addition, Eduardo Leite, Governor of Rio Grande do Sul; Sebastião Melo, President of Porto Alegre; José Renato Hopf, president of South Summit Brazil, and Jorge Audy, professor at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS) highlighted the projection and growth of the entrepreneurial and innovative ecosystem of Rio Grande do Sul.

On the first day of South Summit Brazil 2024, the keynote starring Uri Levine, co-founder of the unicorns Waze and Moovit, stood out. Under the title "Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution", Levine highlighted in his talk the importance of understanding the problems of customers or users before devising solutions, in addition to giving the main keys to innovate by focusing on the user or to take advantage of failures as opportunities to learn.

Throughout the first day of #SouthSummitBrazil24, other renowned experts and actors in the Latin American and global entrepreneurial ecosystem also participated, such as Felipe Feistler, General Manager of SHEIN in Brazil; Joaquim Lima, partner at Riverwood Capital, and Leandro Balbinot, CTO of Whole Foods Market.

The third edition of the meeting will continue today with talks and interventions by speakers such as Paula Ganem, regional head of capital markets for Canada and Latin America at the New York Stock Exchange, and John Elkington, founding partner and executive chairman of Volans.

South Summit Brazil 2024 will continue until Friday, March 22, when the winning startup of the Startup Competition will be announced, in which this year there are 45 finalist startups, from 13 different countries selected from more than 2,000 candidates.