Mr. Francisco Estraluza

Francisco is a Manager at ConnectAmericas.com, a social network for businesses led by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). ConnectAmericas currently hosts 550,000 businesspeople from over 200 countries and has generated over US$2.3 billion in deals. Being part of ConnectAmericas since its inception, Francisco has been involved in all aspects of the project, including conceptualization, design, development, growth, and fundraising.

As a Trade and Investment Senior Specialist at IDB, Francisco leads sovereign guarantee loan operations on matters related to trade and investment facilitation and promotion. In Ecuador, Francisco leads the <em>Sistema Nacional de Atracción y Facilitación de Inversiones</em>, a US$12 million program currently being implemented by the <em>Ministerio de Producción, Comercio Exterior, Inversiones y Pesca</em>. The program aims to increase investment in Ecuador by reducing time, cost and number of procedures to invest in the country, and by increasing the effectiveness of investment attraction and promotion actions by MPCEIP and other government agencies.

Francisco also led the design and development of Build the Americas (BTA), a mobile app created to help increase competition in IDB-funded infrastructure projects. BTA disseminates information about infrastructure tenders that will be published in the next 5 years and helps connect international infrastructure developers with local partners and suppliers for each specific tender.

Prior to joining IDB, Francisco was a Manager at Castalia Strategic Advisors where he advised governments and private clients on economic, financial, and regulatory matters related to transport, logistics, water and sanitation, and energy in Latin America, Africa and Asia.

Francisco holds a Master´s Degree in Public Policy from the Harvard University and a BA in Political Science from Swarthmore College.

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