Guatemala’s economic history has been defined by corruption, instability and broad social inequality. In that context, Rigoberta Menchu received the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize for her work in promoting indigenous rights in the country. There are now other unnoticed social changers: entrepreneurs who see hope in technology as a tool to overcome social divides, as one local entrepreneur told the New York Times.
The New York Times was there in 2011 to explore how reverse brain drain apparently began turning reality around for many young Guatemalans. Juan Mini, for example, returned to Guatemala in 2010 after starting a successful Internet company in California called ZipRealty. He returned to create what is now dubbed “Campus Tec.” Juan and other savvy minds set up workspaces and programming classes with an eco-friendly atmosphere in a seven-floor-building located in a central neighbourhood that had lost its lustre. A year later, this hub had become the entrepreneurial playground for 375 people, such as the founders of motion graphics startup BigoMo: Pedro Méndez, 28, had worked in Spain and Kristoffer Hormander, 25, had returned from college in Florida.
