Andrés Freire

Andrés "Andy" Freire (born 14 January 1972) is an Argentine entrepreneur. He served as Minister of Modernization, Innovation and Technology of the City of Buenos Aires. He was also the main candidate to legislators of the City of Buenos Aires by the front Vamos Juntos. He has co-founded and led Officenet (purchased by Staples in 2004), an office supplies retail company. Freire also co-founded Restorando (sold to Tripadvisor), Sirena and Trocafone.

Early life
Freire was raised in the neighborhood of Núñez in a middle-class family; his father was a doctor and his mother was an English teacher. He attended his secondary school Carlos Pellegrini, where he was a student delegate.

At the age of 18, he and his friends created a non-governmental organization focused on leadership called the Iniciativa Foundation.

Career
After receiving honors as a Bachelor of Economics from the University of San Andrés, where he co-founded the Student Center, he began his professional career at Procter & Gamble. He co-founded Officenet, a company focused on the office material distribution industry in Latin America. He later co-founded Axialent, a consulting firm. He also led other entrepreneurial projects, such as Restorando, Sirena and Trocafone.

He has participated as a guest lecturer and speaker at several universities such as Stanford, Harvard, Notre Dame, Wharton and IE in Spain. He was a honorary lecturer at Harvard University and MIT. He is part of the founders' council and was president of Endeavor Argentina, a non-profit organization. He is an Office of Personnel Management (33) from Harvard Business School. A case called "Officenet: how to make entrepreneurship work in Argentina" was written by Harvard Business School and taught at over 25 universities including the universities of Stanford, Chicago, Columbia, Georgetown, IE Business School and Commercial University of Paris.

One of his five books, Pasión por emprender, which was published in Spanish and Portuguese, was a bestseller in several Latin American countries (including the number one best-selling business book in Argentina for five consecutive months since its publication).

On 10 December 2015, he became Minister of Modernization, Innovation and Technology and President of the Tourism Authority of the City of Buenos Aires in the government of Horacio Rodríguez Larreta. He was also the main candidate for the legislature of Buenos Aires of the City of Buenos Aires in the mid-term election of 2017 when he got 51%, versus 16% and 13% for the second and third most voted candidates, in the Frente #VamosJuntos.

Personal life
He is married to Romina Silvetti with whom he has four children: Tomás, Mateo, Sol and Emilia.

Awards

 * "Global Leader for Tomorrow" in 2000 by the World Economic Forum (WEF).
 * "Latin American Entrepreneur of the Year" in 2001 by the Endeavor Foundation.
 * "World Young Business Achiever" in 2002.
 * He was named one of the 100 "Global Youth Leaders of the World" of the WEF in Davos, Switzerland, in 2008.

Books

 * Pasión por emprender
 * 50 claves para emprendedores
 * El 5% de tu tiempo para cambiar el 100% de la vida de alguien que lo necesita, with Julián Weich.
 * ¡Libre!, El camino emprendedor como filosofía de vida
 * Argentina Emprendedora