LACBAN, based in Mexico City, will serve as the global voice of Latin American and Caribbean startup economies. Around 400,000 business angels in Latin America and the Caribbean invest more than $10 billion in startup ventures every year.
(Mexico City) Recent case studies highlight Latin America’s use of emerging technologies to achieve social goals such as increasing financial inclusion, combating corruption, improving public health, and reducing crime. Angel investors and startups play a key role in facilitating regional consensus and contributing to the region’s development and prosperity.
The World Business Angels Investment Forum signed a Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion and Economic Cooperation Agreement with the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Mexico in 2020. The agreement aimed at easing access to finance for entrepreneurs, not only in Mexico but in Latin America in general and the Caribbean as well.
The World Business Angels Investment Forum announces an output of this agreement: the establishment of the Latin America and Caribbean Trade Association for Business Angels – LACBAN. The founders are from Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guyana, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela. Marcus Dantus, celebrated angel investor of Mexico, has been announced as the President of the association.
This new trade association will be based in Mexico City and will be the global voice of early-stage equity and capital markets in the region. The establishment of the association was announced and celebrated with a bell ceremony on 25 October at the World Congress of Angel Investors WBAF 2022 in Turkey, with the participation of founding members from WBAF, Mexico, Chile, Guyana, Spain, after a video message from Martha Delgado, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mexico.
Baybars Altuntas, Executive Chairman of the World Business Angels Investment Forum, says “Today, the World Business Angels Investment Forum — an affiliated partner of the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI) — has an ongoing, frank, and constructive dialogue with 32 Latin American and Caribbean countries. The ultimate goal of the Association is to ease access to finance for startups, scaleups, entrepreneurs, SMEs and high-growth businesses, and to promote gender equality, enhance digital inclusion, and increase financial inclusion in Latin America and the Caribbean. We invite all angel investors, entrepreneurs, and policymakers to join our global efforts to empower the region’s economies through quality entrepreneurship and to contribute to the momentum unleashed by the establishment of LACBAN, which will be supported by all WBAF institutions such as the WBAF Financial Inclusion Center, the WBAF Business School, the WBAF Publication House, the WBAF Global Startup Investment Promotion Agency (WIPA), and the WBAF Country Offices on 5 continents. We thank the Mexico Foreign Affairs Ministry for their collaboration and for their support for our global efforts to ease access to smart finance for entrepreneurs.”
Martha Delgado, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, says, “Mexico has joined some of the world’s most technically advanced and ambitious nations in launching a national artificial intelligence strategy, making it one of the first ten countries in the world – and the first in Latin America – to publicly announce a national AI strategy. In doing so, Mexico has joined an elite club that includes the U.K., Canada, China, the UAE, Singapore, South Korea, France, and Japan. As governments around the world have responded to the health, social and economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, digitalization has been recognized as being of paramount importance and relevance in ensuring continuity of access to financial services. We believe LACBAN will play a crucial role in empowering the Mexican, Latin American and the Caribbean startup economies. I congratulate all founders of the Association, and I thank WBAF for their collaboration and efforts for the development of the region’s economies through innovation and entrepreneurship. It is a great pleasure to witness the World Business Angels Investment Forum’s continuing support to the economic development of Latin American and Caribbean economies by opening the doors of the WBAF Financial Inclusion Center to LACBAN members and by hosting its secretariat. It is a great pleasure for Mexico to host such an important institution.”
LACBAN President Marcus Dantus says, “At LACBAN, we will focus on key strategic challenges, including closing equity gaps, encouraging stock exchanges to create more liquidity, involving chambers of commerce to increase the number of angel investors, encouraging corporations to set up their own corporate ventures, fostering cross-border investments, and supporting entrepreneurial ecosystems by providing innovative and workable solutions in Latin American and Caribbean economies. I believe our strategic partnership with the World Business Angels Investment Forum will be crucial in reaching our ultimate goals: creating more jobs, more social justice, and increasing financial inclusion in the region. I thank all the founders and board members for their confidence in my leadership, and I will do my utmost best to ensure that LACBAN reaches its goals.”
Statistics show that, in recent years, 340,000 business angels invested 9.6 billion Euro in Europe, and 320,000 business angels invested $26 billion in the US and Canada. An estimated 400,000 business angels in Latin America and the Caribbean invest more than $10 billion in startup ventures every year.
Mission
The Latin America and Caribbean Trade Association for Business Angels (LACBAN) is an international umbrella organisation aiming to ease access to finance for businesses from startup to scale-up, with the ultimate goal of generating more jobs and more social justice in Latin American and Caribbean economies. LACBAN is committed to collaborating globally to empower world economic development by creating innovative financial instruments for innovators, startups, and SMEs. The four missions of LACBAN are: (1) easing access to smart finance for entrepreneurs and angel investors, (2) promoting gender equality, (3) increasing financial inclusion, and (4) enhancing digital inclusion. It advances its agenda at the G20 level through its collaboration with the World Business Angels Investment Forum – an affiliated partner of the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI), chaired by Queen Maxima of the Netherlands.
Founders
Brazil, Angel Investor, Cassio Spina; Brazil, Angel Investor, Juliano Almeida Lopes; Chile, Angel Investor, Juan Carlos Silva; Costa Rica, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs; H.E. Manuel A.Gonzalez-Sanz; Costa Rica, Angel Investor, Marcelo Lebendiker; Ecuador, Angel Investor, Ernesto Kruger; Guyana, Angel Investor, Miranda Thakur-Deen; Jamaica, Angel Investor, Sandra Glasgow; Mexico, Angel Investor, Marcus Dantus ; Mexico, Angel Investor, Miguel Cantu Garza; Mexico, Angel Investor, Nelly Sanchez Ortega; Mexico, Angel Investor, Roberto Ramos; Panama, Angel Investor, Sandra Moreno; Peru, Angel Investor, Isabel Velarde; Trinidad and Tobago, Angel Investor, Sterling Belgrove; Uruguay, Angel Investor, Víctor Machín; Venezuela, Angel Investor, Fernando Ríos Díaz; WBAF, Executive Chairman, Baybars Altuntas; WBAF, Senior Senator for Spain, Miguel Martin.
Board Structure
President, Marcus Dantus, Angel Investor, Mexico
Vice President for International Relations, Miguel Martin, WBAF, Senior Senator for Spain
Vice President for Latin America, Roberto Ramos, Angel Investor, Mexico
Vice President for Central America, H.E. Manuel A.Gonzalez-Sanz, Former Foreign Affairs Minister, Costa Rica
Vice President for Caribbean, Sandra Glasgow, Angel Investor, Jamaica
Secretary General, Christina Mc Gimpsey, WBAF
Board Members: Brazil, Angel Investor, Cassio Spina; Brazil, Angel Investor, Juliano Almeida Lopes; Chile, Angel Investor, Juan Carlos Silva; Costa Rica, Angel Investor, Marcelo Lebendiker; Ecuador, Angel Investor, Ernesto Kruger; Guyana, Angel Investor, Miranda Thakur-Deen; Mexico, Angel Investor, Nelly Sanchez Ortega; Mexico, Angel Investor, Roberto Ramos; Panama, Angel Investor, Sandra Moreno; Peru, Angel Investor, Isabel Velarde; Trinidad and Tobago, Angel Investor, Sterling Belgrove; Uruguay, Angel Investor, Víctor Machín; Venezuela, Angel Investor, Fernando Ríos Díaz; WBAF, Executive Chairman, Baybars Altuntas
For more:
Christina Mc Gimpsey, Secretary General
Latin America and Caribbean Trade Association for Business Angels – LACBAN
secretariat@lacban.org
