WorldCity Business Magazine

Coming out party

by Mary Dempsey

Endeavor, a non-profit that fosters entrepreneurship, is well known among a select group of business executives in Latin America. Now the New York-based enterprise is taking a big step toward expanding its reputation. The first stop? Miami.

The 8-year-old organization, which gives its seal of approval to innovative high-growth entrepreneurs after putting them through a rigorous screening process, made its Miami debut with a summit in late July. The aim was to expand the reach of its fledging network of entrepreneurs, which now numbers 206, predominantly from Latin America.

“It was our first gathering like this. We felt there was enough of a critical mass in our organization to bring everyone together. We also felt it was time to introduce Endeavor formally to the Miami community,” says Linda Rottenberg, CEO of Endeavor. “We plan to do one every 18 to 24 months. I think the next one could be in Miami, too.”

Rottenberg says one of the reasons Miami is attractive is that some of Endeavor’s successful Latin American entrepreneurs have opened offices or launched companies in South Florida. The principal example is Andy Freire, the CEO and chairman of Axialent, an international leadership-consulting company with five U.S. offices including its headquarters in Miami and three offices in Latin America.

Freire first caught Endeavor’s eye in the late 1990s after he founded Officenet, an online office supply company in Argentina that evolved from a startup in 1997 into, just four years later, a company posting $60 million in annual sales. Officenet was such a success that it became a case study at business schools on two continents.

Freire was one of the people who pushed to have Endeavor’s summit in Miami.

“There was a lot of interest from entrepreneurs. For people from Latin America, Miami is the natural entry point for the U.S. market,” he says. He adds that while Endeavor is not universally known, some local business people are aware of its work because of their own ties to Latin America.

“This was originally planned as a closed event with only Endeavor network members participating. But then we got local people lawyers, people from the venture capital world, angel investors who were willing to facilitate and do presentations,” he says.

“They weren’t formally doing business but, informally, I’m sure many were prospecting.”

It was 1997 when Rottenberg and Peter Kellner launched Endeavor. Rottenberg had experience working with Ashoka, a global organization that finances social entrepreneurs in developing companies. Kellner had founded several companies, including Russia’s Ural Petroleum Corp. (which became Khanty Mansisyk Oil Corp. and was sold to Marathon Oil in 2003). Currently, Kellner manages the Richmond funds for Venture Investments, a venture capital company.

A year after Endeavor’s debut, Swiss-based philanthropic organization AVINA provided the non-profit with $500,000 in seed money and the search for Latin American entrepreneurs was on. “During our last eight years of partnership, we have witnessed impressive, concrete results from Endeavor’s programs in the region,” says Emily Fintel, AVINA’s manager of strategic initiatives. “Entrepreneurship has been a key factor in the development and growth of the world’s strongest economies, and Endeavor provides a framework for developing a social infrastructure for entrepreneurship and innovation.”

The 70 entrepreneurs at Endeavor’s Miami summit were joined by more than 100 business executives and investors. The big hitters included Edgar Bronfman Jr., the CEO of Warner Music Group and the chairman of Endeavor. Jose Fourquet, the managing director of private client services at Lehman Brothers, was among the participants from Miami’s corporate ranks.

Most Endeavor entrepreneurs at the summit came from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Uruguay, although Rottenberg notes: “We had six South Africans travel 30 hours in the midst of a South African strike to join us.” Endeavor entrepreneurs are found in a range of industries. There is the company that makes drilling components for mining bits. Endeavor took it on the road to talk to mining companies. And Endeavor has worked to put a Chilean exporter of rare seafood, including sea asparagus, in touch with online food-delivery company Fresh Direct.

Many of the companies are designed to be international, but that’s not a requirement. “Of course, you have to create something big enough that it’s more than just another mom-and-pop’ operation,” Rottenberg says. “It has to be innovative and stand out.”

An example is the multimillion-dollar company in Brazil with beauty products for curly-haired women. “In Brazil, no matter what your income is, hair and beauty products are considered necessities, not luxuries,” Rottenberg explains. “Since the market in Brazil is potentially so big, it doesn’t matter if the company expands beyond the country.”

Endeavor enters countries after local executives commit to investing $2 million over four years to form a board to identify entrepreneurs. Usually there are from six to 15 board members who either support the operation individually or through their companies. “These are often top people, the people who really believe that by opening their doors to a screened group of people they can affect the economies of their country. Rather than supporting the arts things that don’t require the business acumen they have they support entrepreneurs,” says Rottenberg.Each local office compiles lists of entrepreneurs, who are reviewed by panels of venture capitalists, business school professors and corporate experts. Being tapped as an Endeavor company helps open access to capital and investment. Last year, Endeavor took 25 entrepreneurs from Latin America to Texas to meet Michael Dell and his management team. For their part, the entrepreneurs have to be willing to be showcased as role models, to talk to universities, to mentor and to contribute financially to boost entrepreneurship.

Although Endeavor has expanded into Africa, it isn’t finished with Latin America. It plans to bring Colombia into its network. And it wants Miami in part because of its closeness to Latin America to play a stronger role. For starters, it is looking for an executive from Miami to join its board.

Says Rottenberg: “For all these years, Endeavor has never held an event in Miami. Yet there’s such a natural fit there between individuals and corporations and business leaders. At the summit, we found receptivity to what Endeavor was doing.”