2018 Changemaker of the Year: Marc Alain Boucicault, Founder of Banj

Congratulations to Marc Alain Boucicault, Founder of Banj, a coworking space for tech entrepreneurs in Haiti, for being selected by the Your Mark on the World audience as the 2018 Changemaker of the Year.

He was chosen from among 14 candidates, thirteen of whom represented monthly selections for Changemaker of the Month or Editor’s Choice for a month without a competition. One month included a tie. The editor also chose a wild card candidate to include in the voting.

Marc Alain Boucicault

Previously, he was selected by readers as the Changemaker of the Month for June 2018 from among 15 guests on the Your Mark on the World Show.

As the winner of the Changemaker of the Year award, Boucicault will receive:

• A $500 cash prize

• Autographed copies of my books, Adding Profit by Adding Purpose, Crowdfunding for Social Good, and 925 Ideas to Help You Save Money, Get Out of Debt and Retire A Millionaire So You Can Leave Your Mark on the World

• Five hours of free, no obligation consulting from me, Devin Thorpe, bestselling author and former CFO and investment banker

• An invitation to return as a guest on the Your Mark on the World show early in 2019

Boucicault describes Banj:

Despite the enormous spirit of creativity that exists in Haiti, entrepreneurs still lack logistical, technical and financial support systems and the right network to create companies that can change the country’s macroeconomic landscape in the future. Banj is the countries first coworking space and entrepreneurship hub. We are strengthening the capital’s entrepreneurial ecosystem by providing modern workspaces that stimulate creativity and drive the focus to tangible results for entrepreneurs who want to increase their visibility and move to a higher stage in their entrepreneurial experience. We also organize events and various programs to empower and connect entrepreneurs in Haiti with opportunities in the local ecosystem and globally through partners including the Haiti Tech Summit, Facebook and Google. Currently building the country premiere incubator program leveraging ressources mapped through the traffic and partners attached to the hub.

Boucicault’s bio:

Marc Alain (MAB) is an ecosystem builder. He is the founder of Banj, the first and biggest entrepreneurship hub of Port-au-Prince. He brought Facebook and Google to Haiti to work with developers and to support entrepreneurship in a nation still seen as a destination mostly for humanitarian work. Born, raised and college educated in Port-au-Prince, he worked 7 years in international development in Washington, DC and in Port-au-Prince at the World Bank and with the Inter-American Development Bank before he decided to create his own businesses. He is also co-founder of Groupe ECHO Haiti, a grassroots organization valorizing the potential of young adults in development in Haiti through which he created and lead several innovative projects including ELAN Haiti, the biggest international platform that brings together a community of students, young leaders and entrepreneurs from Haiti, its diaspora and the world focused on taking joint actions in Haiti. MAB is responsible for partnerships at the Haiti Tech Summit: The biggest international tech event in the history of the country. He also co-founded and serves as chief external relations officer at HFund, a closed-ended micro-venture capital firm based in Haiti offering new modern and tailored financial instruments that bring capital to innovative businesses and contribute to the emergence of a new category of entrepreneurs in Haiti. Marc Alain is a Fulbright scholar. He holds a M.A in Financial Economic Policy from American University and a B.A in Applied Quantitative Economics from CTPEA. He teaches economics in 12th grade at Collège les Oliviers. It is just one of his many ways to give back to his country while strengthening the ecosystem from an early stage. He believes that entrepreneurship is the only way out of poverty for Haiti and, through his various initiatives, he is offering all those willing to go in that direction a seat at the table.

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