Meet the mentors carefully selected by ISDI and paired with the Adopter SMEs
BonsAPPs is lowering the productivity gap between large and small enterprises by helping adopter SMEs within its network to solve industry’s toughest challenges leveraging AI@Edge services on the Bonseyes AI Marketplace (BMP).
In addition to funding opportunities, BonsAPPs, a consortium of industrial and academic partners funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, also supports the growth of its adopter SMEs via specialized training and mentorship.
With this in mind, BonsAPPs is pleased to announce its Expert Business Mentors that will guide our adopter SMEs on their business growth journeys.
Collectively, these Expert Business Mentors have decades of experience innovating within traditional industries, growing disruptive startups, and developing effective business strategies that drive growth. They’ll be leading adopter SMEs to better define their product strategy and bring products to market; identify and develop commercialization channels; AI implementation; customer acquisition; attracting investors, and much more.
Let’s meet the Expert Business Mentors
Jean-Francois Orsini
Jean-Francois Orsini is a business development executive with decades of experience helping companies expand their market share across Europe. Orsini currently leads business development in Europe for Settlers Honey, one of New Zealand’s largest producers of Manuka honey at 450 tonnes per year. He’s also a private investor in many startup companies via Super Capital, a venture capital and private equity firm that focuses on early stage investments from pre-seed to Series A. Orsini has also held country director positions in Europe and Japan and for the last 8 years was World wide IKEA Food concept director.
Sara Pedraz
With decades of experience helping some of the world’s largest companies drive innovation, Sara Pedraz currently serves as the Innovation Lead for British multinational pharmaceutical manufacturer GSK (formerly GlaxoSmithKline). Pedraz also volunteers much of her time helping up-and-coming startups via mentoring for the European Innovation Council, as well as for venture building programs such as ISDI Accelerator, Mass Challenge and Plug and Play. She’s a regular lecturer on innovation at ISDI, Spain’s digital-first business school, and previously served as Head of Digital, Innovation & Cultural Transformation at pharmaceutical giant Merck.
Ángel Araujo
Dr. Ángel Araujo, Ph.D. has a robust background in finance and sales, having started off his career in investment banking and managing his own hedge fund, only to shift gears into the technology space, helping some of the world’s largest firms like Google and Booking.com grow their business in countries around Europe. He currently serves as the Vice President of Operations and Spain Country Head at IMMO, Europe’s first technology-led residential real estate platform. He is also a professor and guest lecturer at leading universities in Spain, including CUNEF University, Universidad Francisco de Vitoria, and ISDI in Madrid.
Andrés Gómez Morón
Holding a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Organization, Dr. Andrés Gómez Morón holds deep knowledge of intelligent materials and infrastructure innovation. He currently serves as the Head of Open Innovation at RENFE, Spain’s national passenger railway company operated by the Ministry of Public Works. Before joining the public/private sector, Gómez Morón worked in academia, serving as an Assistant Research Scientist at the Charles III University of Madrid, as well as a Visiting Assistant Researcher at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut in the United States.
Christoph Betz
Christoph Betz is a construction industry innovation consultant who has helped some of the top construction firms in the world achieve more ROI from their innovation, digital, and venture efforts. He’s the founder of Construction Collective, an organization for construction futurists, digital innovators and venture builders to come together and work with industry clients on the advancement of the built environment. Betz previously served as the Head of Global Venturing at Nexplore, the digital innovation arm of German construction giant HOCHTIEF. He also works as a consultant in the digital company program of Siemens Healthineers on the intersection of digitalization and IT strategy.
Jose Garcia Pacheco
Jose Garcia Pacheco has a vast knowledge of the technology and media landscape, having started off his career in marketing management positions at some of the world’s top media brands including Expansión, Viacom and Cosmopolitan. In the mid-2000s, Garcia shifted his focus to technology, helping propel the digital marketing strategies of various startups, before founding Astra Move (formerly Cardive), a platform that empowers fleet owners to monitor and manage their fleet of vehicles in real-time, more efficiently. He’s also the Chief Innovation Officer of Astra Innovation & Venture Lab (formerly B4Motion Ventur Lab), a venture firm with over 15 companies created and invested that combines venture building expertise with venture capital investment.
Amanda Nolen
Amanda Nolen has made a life’s work of helping startups and large organizations boost their performance and business results by incorporating a blend of cutting-edge technology, data analytics, smart content and media strategy, as well as innovative operating models. She is the co-founder of her own consultancy, NilesNolen, which provides a host of different services to edtech clients. She’s also an LP and Venture Partner at Emerge Education, a leading venture capital fund focused on the edtech sector. Nolen is a Member of the Faculty at IE Business School, as well as a Mentor at IMPACT EdTech, a €5.6 million accelerator programme co-funded by the European Commission and ISDI Accelerator to boost innovation in education throughout the continent.
Daniel Martinez Menendez
Daniel Martinez Menendez is Managing Director and Chairman of the Board of Cefetra Ibérica, the Spanish subsidiary of German agro-business giant BayWa who operates in the Agri, Energy and Building industries with a strong grip on innovation and Agr-Digital transformation. With a strong managerial background in the trade and agricultural sector, Martinez initiated and scaled two successful agri-business companies in a multinational environment. He’s also an Angel Investor via COREangels Madrid, a consortium of over 50 angel investors who invest and advise startups across Europe, where he chairs the board, He holds as well, a startup portfolio oriented to Food-tech, AgTech and Wellness, and is always available to give support to entrepreneur ecosystem.
Tom Horsey
A prolific entrepreneur since the late 1990s, Tom Horsey today focuses his efforts on helping to grow the ventures of the next generation of successful European entrepreneurs. He’s Managing Partner at Eoniq.fund, an early stage, sector agnostic, investment fund from Spain, with a particular focus on startups from outside of the country’s traditional business hubs of Madrid and Barcelona. He also runs StartupLabs Spain and StartupLabs Malta, early-stage venture accelerators operating in both countries, and also sits on the board of several startups.
For more information on BonsAPPs and our adopter SME community, please visit bonsapps.eu
