Andrés Freire

Andrés Freire
Born (1972-01-14) 14 January 1972 (age 52)
Buenos Aires City, Argentina
OccupationEntrepreneur
Websitewww.andyfreire.com

Andrés "Andy" Freire (born 14 January 1972) is an Argentine entrepreneur.[1] He served as Minister of Modernization, Innovation and Technology of the City of Buenos Aires.[2] He was also the main candidate to legislators of the City of Buenos Aires by the front Vamos Juntos.[3] He has co-founded and led Officenet (purchased by Staples in 2004), an office supplies retail company. Freire also co-founded Restorando (sold to Tripadvisor), Sirena and Trocafone.

Early life

Freire was raised in the neighborhood of Núñez in a middle-class family; his father was a doctor and his mother was an English teacher. He attended his secondary school Carlos Pellegrini, where he was a student delegate.

At the age of 18, he and his friends created a non-governmental organization focused on leadership called the Iniciativa Foundation.

Career

After receiving honors as a Bachelor of Economics from the University of San Andrés,[4] where he co-founded the Student Center, he began his professional career at Procter & Gamble. He co-founded Officenet,[5] a company focused on the office material distribution industry in Latin America. He later co-founded Axialent,[6][7] a consulting firm. He also led other entrepreneurial projects, such as Restorando, Sirena and Trocafone.

He has participated as a guest lecturer and speaker at several universities such as Stanford, Harvard, Notre Dame, Wharton and IE in Spain. He was a honorary lecturer at Harvard University and MIT. He is part of the founders' council and was president of Endeavor Argentina, a non-profit organization.[8] He is an Office of Personnel Management (33) from Harvard Business School.[4] A case called "Officenet: how to make entrepreneurship work in Argentina" was written by Harvard Business School and taught at over 25 universities including the universities of Stanford, Chicago, Columbia, Georgetown, IE Business School and Commercial University of Paris.[9][10]

One of his five books, Pasión por emprender,[5] which was published in Spanish and Portuguese, was a bestseller in several Latin American countries (including the number one best-selling business book in Argentina for five consecutive months since its publication).[1]

On 10 December 2015, he became Minister of Modernization, Innovation and Technology[2] and President of the Tourism Authority of the City of Buenos Aires in the government of Horacio Rodríguez Larreta. He was also the main candidate for the legislature of Buenos Aires of the City of Buenos Aires in the mid-term election of 2017 when he got 51%, versus 16% and 13% for the second and third most voted candidates, in the Frente #VamosJuntos.[3]

Personal life

He is married to Romina Silvetti with whom he has four children: Tomás, Mateo, Sol and Emilia.[citation needed]

Awards

  • "Global Leader for Tomorrow" in 2000 by the World Economic Forum (WEF).
  • "Latin American Entrepreneur of the Year" in 2001 by the Endeavor Foundation.
  • "World Young Business Achiever" in 2002.
  • He was named one of the 100 "Global Youth Leaders of the World"[11] of the WEF in Davos, Switzerland, in 2008.

Books

  • Pasión por emprender[5]
  • 50 claves para emprendedores[12]
  • El 5% de tu tiempo para cambiar el 100% de la vida de alguien que lo necesita,[13] with Julián Weich.
  • ¡Libre!, El camino emprendedor como filosofía de vida[14]
  • Argentina Emprendedora[15]

References

  1. ^ a b "Andy Freire | World Economic Forum". World Economic Forum. Archived from the original on 28 June 2020. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  2. ^ a b "Ministerio de Modernización, Innovación y Tecnología" [Ministry of Modernization, Innovation and Technology]. Buenos Aires Ciudad - Gobierno de la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 31 July 2017. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  3. ^ a b Mercado, Silvia. "Andy Freire será el primer candidato a legislador de "Vamos Juntos"" [Andy Freire will be the first candidate for legislator of "Vamos Juntos"]. Infobae (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 23 June 2017. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  4. ^ a b "Harvard Club de Argentina". hcargentina.clubs.harvard.edu (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 24 August 2017. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  5. ^ a b c Andy, Freire (15 September 2012). Pasión por emprender : De la idea a la cruda realidad [Passion for entrepreneurship: From idea to harsh reality] (in Spanish). AGUILAR. ISBN 9789870426059. OCLC 930706086.
  6. ^ Martín Fernández, Pablo. "El argentino más exitoso de la web" [The most successful Argentine on the web]. Archived from the original on 16 September 2017. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  7. ^ Freire, Andy. "Axialent". www.axialent.com. Archived from the original (book) on 24 August 2017. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  8. ^ "Andy Freire | Endeavor Argentina". Endeavor Argentina (in European Spanish). 17 January 2012. Archived from the original on 27 August 2017. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  9. ^ Kuemmerle, Walter; J. Coughlin, William (25 January 2000). "Officenet (A): Making Entrepreneurship Work in Argentina". Harvard Business Publishing. Archived from the original on 9 July 2022.
  10. ^ "Andy Freire". Stanford eCorner. 31 October 2008. Archived from the original on 11 December 2015. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
  11. ^ "El Gobierno de la Ciudad, presente en Davos". Buenos Aires Ciudad - Gobierno de la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires (in Spanish). Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  12. ^ Andy, Freire (31 August 2007). 50 claves para emprendedores [50 keys for entrepreneurs] (in Spanish) (Primera edición en Punto de lectura ed.). Mexico City. ISBN 9786071112064. OCLC 923017730.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  13. ^ Freire, Andy (17 June 2013). El 5%: El 5% de tu tiempo para cambiar el 100% de la vida de alguien que lo necesita [5% of your time to change 100% of the life of someone who needs it] (in Spanish). Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial Argentina. ISBN 9789870429401.
  14. ^ Andy, Freire (October 2014). ¡Libre! : el camino del emprendedor como filosofilosofia de vida [Free! the path of the entrepreneur as a philosophy of life] (in Spanish) (Primera edición ed.). Buenos Aires. ISBN 9789870436553. OCLC 894238994.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  15. ^ Freire, Andy (1 September 2015). Argentina emprendedora: Cómo innovar puede producir cambios reales y decisivos en el destino de un país [Entrepreneurial Argentina: How innovation can produce real and decisive changes in the destiny of a country] (in Spanish). Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial Argentina. ISBN 9789877351071.