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Daniel Buchbinder
Founder and Director, Alterna
USA

Daniel Buchbinder is the Founder and Director of Alterna, a social innovation platform working triggering change in Central America and beyond. Since Alterna´s conception Daniel has leaded the launch of two social ventures that serve rural populations at the BoP, and the cultivation of the first inclusive generation of +2,000 entrepreneurs and social impact SMEs in Central America. He leads a fantastic +40 international team, top level professionals that share his passion to cultivate change from the ground-up. During the first three years of its business cultivation program, entrepreneurs and SMEs have positively impacting and improving lives of more than 2 million individuals in the region.

Daniel devoted the initial years of his career to the consumer market as marketing executive at L´Oreal. This experience allowed him to comprehend the nitty-gritty of consumer marketing dynamics and to design solutions based on deep costumer understanding as well as apprehend the process of launching and managing brands and products for a wide array of customers in Latin America and Europe. He has consulted for private and public sectors in areas such as tourism, mining and the consumer market in Mexico, Guatemala, Spain, Germany and the UK.

In 2013 Daniel was requested to advice the Ministry of Economics in Guatemala to create the National Policy of Entrepreneurship. Daniel has been invited to participate in forums and events around the world to share his views and experiences around social enterprise and impact investment. In 2013 he formed part of the Mexican Delegation that attended the G20 Young Entrepreneur Alliance in Moscow, Russia. In that same year he formed the first chapter in Central America for the Mexican Talent Network, an initiative from the Mexican Bureau of Foreign affairs.

Daniel was selected as an Ashoka Fellow in 2016 and has also received a range of recognitions from organizations such Skoll, ROI and ADEL. Since 2016 Daniel is Co-Chair of the steering committee for the Mexico and Central American Chapter of the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) and belongs to a range of boards in companies and social impact organizations.

Daniel holds a BA in Business Administration (ITAM, Mexico) and two MSc´s in Environmental Technology and Business (Imperial College, UK) and Environmental Geography (UNAM, Mexico).

Daniel is deeply moved by the power of enterprise as a means to achieve optimal social and environmental balance. As an avid entrepreneur himself, he greatly enjoys animated conversations, planning and most importantly, executing the business model that will tackle the next tough challenge.