User:Infoteck8/Alejandro Cosentino

Alejandro Cosentino

Wiki Biography for Alejandro Cosentino

Alejandro Cosentino (born October 23, 1962) is Latin American entrepreneur, blogger and technology innovator.

Cosentino is a visionary as well an innovative business developer. He founded AFLUENTA in 2008 the leading peer-to-peer lending company of Latin America introducing disruptive innovation thru leverage technology and financial products to rediscover the human side of money, co-founded VOYMUSIC   the first Latin online radio in 2005 and lead GRATIS1  in 2000 the pioneer company which democratized internet access in the early dot.com days in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay.

Cosentino has a history of entrepreneurial developments across Latin America as well as many senior positions across the region. He also was the Managing Director of Internet Companies at The Exxel Group, a leading private Latin America Equity Fund Company, where he developed the Internet strategy, operations, and acquisitions for the Company. His career includes senior executive marketing positions in Banco RIO (later acquired by Banco Santander ) and the American Express Company. As Vice-President of Marketing Services at American Express, he implemented innovative marketing, sales and advertising business strategies throughout the Latin American and Caribbean region and reached the Bronze ECHO Award for Gold Card Direct Marketing Campaigns.

Afluenta Afluenta, the last development of Cosentino, is a true effort to close the gap of the lack of credit offer in Latin American countries leveraging technology to free peer to peer loans. Afluenta was also selected by NXTP Labs a TechStars Global Accelerator Network Member  partner, as part of the 2011 of incubated companies. Cosentino’s vision was inspired by Lynn Twist’s book “The Soul of Money”  to create a service to help for all of those who deserve a loan, an alternative to financial institutions to access to a more competitive loans and for those who want to invest get better alternatives of returns for their money.

VOY Music Cosentino co founded with Fernando Espuelas VOY Music, the first online Internet radio in Latin America to stream Latin music to promote Latin musicians around the world. Cosentino’s idea of democratizing the access for musician to worldwide audiences materialized on VOY Music services. VOY Music featured the world’s first Latino eLabel, a virtual record label providing undiscovered artists access to free promotion and distribution of their music; a free internet radio network featuring +40 Latin genre-based stations of both popular and emerging artists, as well as seldom heard, eclectic works; an online music store; podcasting; blogging; newsletters; music news, artist profiles and other interactive services. In 2007, when traffic hit 4.5 million unique internet visitors, Forrester Research's study "Hispanic Social Computing Takes-off" ranked VOY Music sites as the leading Latin social network pure-play brand in the United States pairing iTunes Services just below YouTube. According to The Sun Sentinel, "VOY Music executives say they're tapping a strong market. A study this year by AOL/Roper that found that 55 percent of U.S. Hispanics like to listen to music when online, compared with 41 percent for the general U.S. population. And 37 percent of Latinos had downloaded music, vs. 25 percent for the U.S. population." “With the range of VOY Music’s products, we are providing talented, undiscovered Latin musicians a global forum to reach millions of people, while at the same time giving music fans a home base and community for Latin music, “ said Cosentino. ”Previously, only a handful of lucky artists could dream of landing a record contract and reaching a meaningful consumer market. Now with VOY Music, Latin musicians around the globe can immediately reach consumers and directly promote their work through the VOY eLabelTM and our channels of radio -- while selling their music to a worldwide audience. For consumers of Latin music, we are a central plaza – providing access to a full spectrum of musical styles and showcasing both popular and rare, previously undiscovered music. This is unprecedented in the industry,” he added.

Cosentino crafted a singular alliance with Starmedia Networks an Orange Group Company  as part of France Telecom  to create the radio channels for the Latin America portal, which had global coverage and got impressive press coverage across Latin America and Europe

VOY Music becomes one of the iconic brand of the internet 2.0 for being an early user of digital marketing. InZearch.com, a FOX Network Company , used VOY Music traffic records to establish a business case about successful SEO business practices. Gratis 1 an Starmedia Company Gratis1 a company from Starmedia, Chase Capital Partner, Fred Wilson’s Flatiron, 1st Up and CMGi hired Cosentino. Gratis1, led free ISP movement across Latin America allowing more than 1.5 million people around 60 cities in Latin American to discover internet during the early days of the new millennium. Gratis1, under Cosentino’s management, was the first pan regional company to offer free connectivity in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay building a new and fresh Internet network in less than 6 months. PSI Net was the main Internet provider across the region

Gratis1 was the leading company to promote Internet alliances to provide free access to targeted companies such as Banorte in Mexico, Intermanagers  and Bank Boston in Argentina. Then the company suspended definitely its service in Latin America, a consequence of its main technology provider 1st UP Corp closing down operations.

Personal Life Cosentino is married, has no children and lives in Buenos Aires. He has a Bachelors degree in Business Administration and is Certified Public Accountant (CPA) from Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina. He thought as an assistant professor at the same University at the subject Marketing Strategy. He is an active blueberries producer in compliance with environmental sustainability, fair trade, certified by global agricultural practices and Corporate Social Responsibility (RSE).

Awards Entrepreneur of the year – 1993 Mañana Profesional Winner of the Bronze ECHO Award for American Express Gold Card