Empowering the Next Generation of Tech Innovators – EcoTech Insights

I am here with Charlie Esna, who is the CEO of Monotech in Miami here at Emer Americas. And Charlie, it's great to have you on. Thank you.

Well, thank you for having me. Sure. Tell me about Monotech.

I know it's designed for entrepreneurs, but a lot of people might not be familiar with the concept. Tell me about what it is and how you got it started. Sure.

ManTech is an entrepreneurship hub that we're building in downtown Miami. It's part of the vision of Moana, who owns now 72 properties in the downtown area of Miami. It's a very historical area that we are revitalizing the whole neighborhood with a focus in technology and innovation.

And ManTech focuses on supporting entrepreneurs, connecting them through mainly we do events. We had 130 events last year. We also bring companies from all over the world to Miami.

Last year we brought 120 companies from 19 countries, and we also give them support with mentoring and, and well connections in the ecosystem. So in essence, we're like the, the door of entry into the ecosystem here in Miami, It is called monotech. Do you have a lot of companies that are involved in technology?

Yeah, all of them. All, all of them are tech entrepreneurs, startups in different stages, and also from everywhere in the world, you know, because Miami is becoming a global tech hub. That's our, our goal also to support Miami in that path, to be the place to go.

For anybody that is international, that wants to come to the us, they should come to Miami first. Since you're covering the international tech scene, I'd be curious what kind of trends you're seeing. I know we are, we are seeing a lot of AI and quantum here.

Are you seeing that within your entrepreneurial community as well? Definitely. I think that AI in particular level the play a little bit for anybody in the world because it's, it's such a new technology that is out there that all the creators are, you know, bringing up solutions that it doesn't matter where you're, you can be in Italy, you can be in in Argentina, and, and you can come up with something that is really new and innovative.

So I think that AI is, is, you know, breaking the ground there. Um, and then anything that has to do with Miami as a, as a tech hub as well. Miami, we are a lot about health tech, a lot of FinTech as well.

Climate tech is the new that is coming to Miami now. So those are the verticals that we see that are more, uh, you know, focused in Miami now. That's great.

Yeah. I know that climate tech is talked about here in South Florida because of the location. Are you seeing any more innovation in that space?

Definitely. And also, not only innovation, but a push by the whole community to make it happen. Because we know that if, if we don't do something in Miami, uh, we're gonna be underwater at some point.

So, uh, you know, from the, there's accelerators like the Sea worth collective that does that, that focuses exclusively on solutions for water. There's also now a, a push from the, even the federal government has, uh, provided some funding through the EDA to the Miami-Dade County to establish a risk resilience tech hub. And that's, that money's now flowing to FIU, like to universities and to other players so that we can create really an ecosystem to support all these innovators in finding solutions to, you know, make the planet livable in the future.

A Lot of people that are watching this work in tech, and maybe they have an idea, eventually they wanna be an entrepreneur or part of some sort of entrepreneurial team. What's your advice for people that are thinking about making this move? Uh, definitely reach out to your community.

You know, there's a lot of support from different, uh, actors. You have accelerators, you have government programs, uh, connect with us of course, because we, we do that. We support entrepreneurs from the earlier stage to the later stages.

We have physical spaces also like, you know, coworking spaces where the community gathers. This week we had over 10 events in, in just one week, uh, where we're connecting all these people. So I think it's that it's network.

Go out there, talk to people, uh, you know, talk to founders that have done it before because most of the people that have gone through their entrepreneurial journey, they're willing to give back, uh, and support you. So let's just go out there, you know, on LinkedIn, on your real life, go out to events and, and talk to people and get, get like out of your comfort zone and, uh, you'll find the support that you need. Charlie Asal, thank you so much, CEO of Monotech.

It's great to be speaking with you here at Americas and I'll be following all the excitement with Monotech and all the great entrepreneurs that you're supporting. Yes. Thank you so much for having me.