Andrés Freire
Andy Freire is an entrepreneur, consultant and independent director. He is a co-founder of Officenet and served as Minister of Modernization, Innovation and Technology of the City of Buenos Aires from 2015 to 2017. He was a managing partner and head of the Southern Cone for the SoftBank Latin America Fund. He is currently linked to Baris, a brand that produces and sells in the United States Patagonian frozen raspberries covered with chocolate, and to Racquet360, a company builder focused on the development of padel in the United States.
Career
He began his career at Procter & Gamble. He was a co-founder and director of Officenet, an office supplies distributor that expanded operations in Argentina and Brazil and was acquired by Staples in 2004; in 2011 it adopted the brand of its parent company. The company’s experience was the subject of the Harvard Business School case study Officenet : Making Entrepreneurship Work in Argentina.After Officenet, he co-founded Axialent, a global consulting and coaching firm oriented to leadership, team effectiveness and culture, where he served as president and CEO until 2011. In 2013 he joined the founding team of Quasar Ventures, a technology company builder reported by The Next Web at launch.
From that ecosystem and other projects, he co-founded or helped launch startups including Restorando and Sirena, as well as Trocafone. The acquisition of Restorando by TheFork was announced in 2019, and the purchase of Sirena by Zenvia was reported in 2020.
In investing, he was founding managing partner and Head Southern Cone of the SoftBank Latin America Fund. He currently serves as an independent director for public and private companies and focuses on leadership processes, executive coaching, team effectiveness and cultural transformation. He is also linked to Baris and to Racquet360.