Newly established umbrella Organisation for Angel Investors in Latin America and the Caribbean

Co-founder of Jamaica’s angel investor network, FirstAngelsJA, Sandra Glasgow, has been appointed the vice president of the Latin America and Caribbean Trade Association for Business Angels (LACBAN).

The experienced angel investor, who is the managing director of virtual business incubator RevUP Caribbean, will represent the Caribbean in the Mexico City-based LACBAN, gathering angel investors under one umbrella to serve as the global voice of Latin American and Caribbean start-up economies.

Marcus Dantus, a celebrated angel investor from Mexico, has been announced as the president of the association.

Commenting on the appointment, Glasgow expressed delight to be serving in the capacity of vice presdent for the newly established trade association.

For her, “it’s an honour to have been appointed”.

Said Glasgow: “MSMEs across the region possess the potential to solve a wide range of economic and social challenges that Caribbean territories face. The establishment of LACBAN aims to improve access to capital for companies at all stages of development, from start-up to scale-up, with the ultimate objective of increasing social justice and employment in the economies of Latin America and the Caribbean.”

She explained that “this is a charge that FirstAngelsJA and has been leading locally and with RevUP Caribbean in the wider Caribbean since October 2021. The establishment of this entity comes at an opportune time”.

Mandate of new 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 October 25, 2022 at the World Congress of Angel Investors in Turkey with the participation of founding members from World Business Angels Investment Forum (WBAF).

The founding members are Mexico, Chile, Guyana and Spain – after a video message from Martha Delgado, deputy minister of foreign affairs of Mexico.

In 2022, WBAF signed a Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion and Economic Cooperation Agreement with the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Mexico.

OUTPUT OF AGREEMENT

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.

As an output of this agreement, the WBAF announced 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.

Commenting on the formation of LACBAN, Baybars Altuntas, executive chairman of the World Business Angels Investment Forum, said: “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 start-ups, 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.”

He is inviting “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 and the WBAF Country Offices on five continents”.

Key strategic challenges

Speaking further on this, LACBAN President Marcus Dantus stated that “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”.

Yearly, around 400,000 business angels in Latin America and the Caribbean invest more than US$10 billion in start-up ventures. 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 start-ups play a key role in facilitating regional consensus and contributing to the region’s development and prosperity.

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