Daniel Buchbinder (Quetzaltenango, Guatemala) is the Founder and Director of Alterna, the premier center for social innovation and entrepreneurship in Central America. Since Alterna´s conception Daniel has leaded the launch of two social ventures that serve rural populations, and the cultivation of the first inclusive generation of +350 local entrepreneurs with social or environmental impact in Guatemala. He leads a fantastic international team of likeminded, top level professionals that share his passion to cultivate change from the ground-up.
Daniel devoted the initial years of his career to the consumer market as marketing executive at L´Oreal. This experience allowed him to comprehend the nitty-gritty of consumer marketing dynamics and to design solutions based on deep costumer understanding as well as apprehend the process of launching and managing brands and products for a wide array of customers in Latin America and Europe. He has consulted for private and public sectors in areas such as tourism, mining and the consumer market in Mexico, Guatemala, Spain, Germany and the UK.
In 2013 Daniel was requested to advice the Ministry of Economics in Guatemala to create the National Policy of Entrepreneurship. Daniel has been invited to participate in forums and events around the world to share his views and experiences around social enterprise and impact investment. In 2013 he formed part of the Mexican Delegation that attended the G20 Young Entrepreneur Alliance in Moscow, Russia. In that same year he formed the first chapter in Central America for the Mexican Talent Network, an initiative from the Mexican Bureau of Foreign affairs.
In 2014 Daniel was awarded with the Innovation for Sustainability Stephan Schmidheiny prize. The organization competed with more than 750 organizations, social business and initiatives from the continent.
Daniel holds a BA in Business Administration (ITAM, Mexico) and two MSc´s in Environmental Technology and Business (Imperial College, UK) and Environmental Geography (UNAM, Mexico)
Daniel is deeply moved by the power of enterprise as a means to achieve optimal social and environmental balance. As an avid entrepreneur himself, he greatly enjoys animated conversations, planning and most importantly, executing the business model that will tackle the next tough challenge. (Participated in The Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs Annual Conference in September 2016)