Come discuss the future of global entrepreneurship in emerging markets with a panel assembled by Network 20/20. The panelists include: Elmira Bayrasli, Co-Founder of Foreign Policy Interrupted and author of From the Other Side of the World: Extraordinary Entrepreneurs, Unlikely Paces; Karl Kilb, CEO of Boloro Global Limited; Patrick McGinnis, Founder of Dirigo Advisors and author of 10% Entrepreneurs; Comfort Paul, Principle at Nurture Invest; and will be moderated by Vincent Mai, Chairman and CEO of The Cranemere Group Limited.
This panel will delve into the opportunities and challenges facing entrepreneurs in emerging markets and look at questions such as: how is technology changing entrepreneurs' ability to conduct business globally? How are governments helping or hindering innovation and business development? Panelists will share their own experiences and take questions from the moderator and audience.
Elmira Bayrasli - Elmira has spent the past two decades working on foreign policy, international development, and with startups worldwide and continues to do so today as a writer, speaker, consultant, lecturer, and co-founder.
In 2013, Elmira co-founded Foreign Policy Interrupted, an education and media startup dedicated to increasing female foreign policy voices in the written and electronic press.
She is a visiting fellow at the New America Foundation, and a lecturer at New York University. Her book, From the Other Side of the World: Extraordinary Entrepreneurs, Unlikely Places was released on September 8, 2015 (published by Public Affairs). It is a book that looks at the growth of innovation beyond Silicon Valley, focusing on talented individuals around the world who have overcome insurmountable obstacles to lead high-growth businesses.
In 2002, Elmira left a job in New York’s private sector for Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina where she served as the Chief Spokesperson for the OSCE Mission. From 1994-2000 Elmira was a presidential appointee at the State Department, working for Madeleine Albright and Richard Holbrooke, respectively.
From 2011-2013, Elmira wrote about global innovations and entrepreneurship in a weekly column entitled, Entreventures, on Forbes.com and she has contributed to the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Foreign Affairs, VentureBeat, The Huffington Post, and MIT’s Innovations Journal. In 2010, she co-authored a study for Pakistan’s Planning Commission on entrepreneurship, entitled: “Creating a Place for the Future.”
Karl Kilb - Karl joined Boloro Global Limited as the CEO on October 1, 2016, bringing vast, worldwide experience in the financial markets, including secure, electronic transactions, as well as negotiation of multi-billion-dollar agreements.
Karl spent most of his career at Bloomberg LP, including more than 15 years as the General Counsel. Karl understands how to develop and monetize content, applications and technology. At Bloomberg, Karl built and managed a global Legal and Compliance Department that supported all aspects of Bloomberg’s worldwide businesses, including data, news, software, telecom and electronic trading. Karl was also a founding principal of Bloomberg Tradebook LLC, the company’s electronic agency brokerage firm, and Bloomberg’s Risk Manager, overseeing all insurance coverage.
Karl co-founded N2 Global Solutions, Inc., a New York City-based technology company, in 2014 and served as President/CEO until September, 2016.
Prior to becoming a lawyer in 1995, Karl was a broadcast journalist with CNBC, Financial News Network, 1010 WINS Radio and Bloomberg.
Karl regularly lectures on legal, business development and entrepreneurial issues, including at the Fordham University School of Law, where he is Chairman / Co-Founder of the Entrepreneurial Law Advisory Council.
A native New Yorker and resident of NYC with his wife, Alexis Christoforous, and their three children, Karl graduated magna cum laude from NYU with a B.A. in broadcast journalism and from the Fordham University School of Law with a focus on intellectual property and securities regulations. Karl is also involved with a number of charities, the Boy Scouts and Travel Baseball.
Vincent Mai - Vincent is the Chairman and CEO of Cranemere, LLC since the firm was founded in January 2012. Cranemere is a private equity firm specializing in investments in middle market companies globally. Prior to joining Cranemere, Vincent was at AEA Investors from 1989 to the end of 2011. He joined AEA as CEO and became Chairman in 1998. AEA is one of the oldest private equity firms in the U.S, focused on implementing successful operating improvements in its portfolio companies.
Prior to joining AEA, Vincent was a managing director of Lehman Brothers, then a leading Wall Street investment banking firm with global operations, where he was employed since 1976. He started his professional career in 1965 at S.G. Warburg and Co., Ltd., a London-based merchant banking firm. After moving to New York in 1969 to work on Warburg's US business, he joined the firm's board of directors in 1973. Vincent is currently chairman of the Board of Sesame Workshop and also serves on many boards including the Juilliard School and the University of Cape Town Fund. For 10 years during the 1990’s, Vincent was a director of The Carnegie Corporation of New York and Fannie Mae.
Patrick McGinnis - Patrick J. McGinnis is a venture capitalist and private equity investor who founded Dirigo Advisors, after a decade on Wall Street, to provide strategic advice to investors, entrepreneurs, and fast growing businesses. In this capacity, he has worked in a range of settings, from building startups from the ground up in Silicon Valley to acting as an expert consultant to the World Bank in Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East.
As a 10% Entrepreneur, he has built a diverse portfolio of investments outside of his day job. This portfolio encompasses fast growing new ventures in the United States, Latin America, Europe, and Asia, including ipsy, the world’s largest online beauty community; Bluesmart, the inventor of the world’s first smart, connected carry-on suitcase; and Afiniti, a big data company that is reinventing the call center industry. He has also been a partner in several real estate investments.
An avid traveler, writer, and speaker, Patrick has visited more than 70 countries and is fluent in Spanish, Portuguese, and French.
He is the author of the book The 10% Entrepreneur, published by Penguin Portfolio. He has also written articles for well-known publications such as Fortune, Business Insider, and Forbes.
Patrick is a graduate of Harvard Business School and Georgetown University and lives in New York City.
Comfort Paul - Comfort is a Principal at Nurture Invest which is based in Johannesburg, South Africa and specializes in private equity investments mainly in Zimbabwe but also Southern and East Africa. He is responsible for analysis of private equity investments in Africa, executing transactions, fundraising in the U.S. market, and monitoring Nurture Invest's portfolio performance. Previously, Comfort worked as a Quantitative Analyst at Perennial Investment Partners in Australia, then as a Senior Analyst in the Transaction Services Department at Deloitte, Australia and as an Analyst in the Corporate Finance/Transaction Services Departments at PricewaterhoouseCoopers' St Kitts and Zimbabwe offices.