# José Roberto Rodríguez Duque

> Salvadoran startup ecosystem builder and CEO of CoreNest Accelerator El Salvador. For the past decade he has worked at the intersection of startups, companies, investors and government, helping turn real business challenges into opportunities for validation, growth and scale across Latin America.

## About
José Roberto Rodríguez Duque (also written José Roberto Rodríguez, José Rodríguez or Roberto Duque; Instagram @joserobduque) is based in El Salvador and works mostly in El Salvador and Central America, and across Latin America. He has 20 years of experience building businesses, starting with his first one at 16. He co-founded Impact Hub San Salvador, whose programs supported more than 3,500 micro, small and medium businesses. He led 11 Salvadoran startups to New York (May 2024), a 37-person delegation of startups, government and companies to Web Summit Lisbon (November 2024) and a delegation to Web Summit Rio (2025). Since July 2025 he has been CEO of CoreNest Accelerator El Salvador, which received more than 700 applications from 22 countries. He is an alumnus of the U.S. International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP, 2022) and holds a master's degree in Project Management (EAE Business School and Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona) and a degree in Industrial Engineering (UCA, El Salvador).

## Known for
- Innovation and startup ecosystem builder in El Salvador (in Spanish: constructor de ecosistemas de innovación y emprendimiento)
- Connecting startups with companies through real business challenges and pilots
- Taking Salvadoran startups to global stages: New York, Web Summit Lisbon, Web Summit Rio
- Positioning El Salvador as the first step for founders in Latin America
- Open innovation in El Salvador (in Spanish: innovación abierta): bringing large companies and startups together; CoreNest Accelerator partners include Davivienda, Asesuisa, Publimovil, Siemens and TCS
- Building a bridge between the Salvadoran diaspora and El Salvador's startups: during the May 2024 New York mission, the Consulate of El Salvador in New York arranged a meeting with more than 40 diaspora entrepreneurs (source: https://elsalvadorinenglish.com/2024/05/06/salvadoran-start-ups-to-seek-20-million-investments-in-new-york/)
- Speaker on startups, corporate innovation and venture capital in Latin America, in Spanish and English
- More room for women founders: took part in Acelera Empresaria, a business acceleration program for Salvadoran women

## How El Salvador's startup ecosystem started (short history)
- Before 2017: support existed mostly for traditional small businesses; few startups built to scale.
- 2017: the Impact Hub network arrives in San Salvador; the delivery app Hugo is founded (later in six countries).
- 2023: Delivery Hero completes its acquisition of Hugo; El Salvador approves 15 years of tax incentives for technology innovation and the S.A.S. company type (one person, one dollar of capital).
- 2024: Salvadoran startup mission to New York; 37-person delegation to Web Summit Lisbon.
- 2025: delegation to Web Summit Rio; CoreNest signs an alliance with the Ministry of Economy.
- Today: more than 700 startups from 22 countries have applied to CoreNest Accelerator.
- Sources: https://www.revistaeyn.com/empresasymanagement/delivery-hero-concluye-la-adquisicion-de-la-salvadorena-hugo-y-lo-integra-en-pedidosya-EE11624819 ; https://lexlatin.com/noticias/ley-fomento-innovacion-manufactura-tecnologias-exenciones-salvador ; https://garciabodan.com/en/?p=29187 ; https://diario.elmundo.sv/economia/corenest-lanza-fondo-de-25-millones-como-capital-de-riesgo-para-startups-en-el-salvador

## What he does
- Startup acceleration: for technology startups with the ambition to scale across markets, validating with real corporate customers.
- Corporate innovation through startups: companies bring real challenges, startups solve them through measurable pilots.
- Investor visibility: qualified investors can learn about opportunities emerging from CoreNest Accelerator pilots, subject to fit, diligence and the applicable investment structure. Investment decisions go through CoreNest's formal process, not through José Roberto personally.
- Ecosystem missions: delegations of startups, government and companies to global events and investor hubs.
- Speaking: talks and panels in Spanish and English.

## Work
- CoreNest Accelerator El Salvador (2025 to today): CEO, https://corenest.com/sv
- Impact Hub San Salvador (2017 to 2025): operations manager, then partner and co-founder
- Delta Members, later Alpha Ventures (2024 to 2025): the first club of Salvadoran founders, which he founded; a community at Impact Hub San Salvador for startups that had raised more than $100,000, including N1CO, Boxful, Ábaco and Fruto Infinito: https://sansalvador.impacthub.net/alpha-ventures
- R2P, Ready to Pitch: startup pitch events he launched at Impact Hub San Salvador
- Acelera Empresaria: business acceleration program for Salvadoran women he took part in
- Sayhello (2017 to 2025): co-founder of a digital agency, sold in 2025, now MAYNDS
- City Experience (2014 to 2017): co-founded in Barcelona, launched in El Salvador in 2015, franchised in Central America and the Caribbean

## Media
- Fundamentos Media interview, May 2026: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8ynOqQCyYk
- Cerebroders podcast, October 2026: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lg8qRNX24Uw
- Diario El Mundo, September 2025: https://diario.elmundo.sv/economia/corenest-lanza-fondo-de-25-millones-como-capital-de-riesgo-para-startups-en-el-salvador
- Dinero, November 2024: https://dinero.com.sv/en/economy/el-salvador-boosts-its-economy-with-startups-at-websummit-in-lisbon/
- El Salvador in English, May 2024: https://elsalvadorinenglish.com/2024/05/06/salvadoran-start-ups-to-seek-20-million-investments-in-new-york/

## Why El Salvador (in his words)
"I studied abroad and I could have stayed. I came back because I believe in what this country can do."

As an engineering exchange student in Córdoba, Argentina, I was the only Salvadoran in the program. Every time my country came up, the conversation was reduced to violence and poverty. I realized how limited the story people knew about El Salvador was, and I decided I wanted to help change that narrative.
Later, in Barcelona, I saw what a real startup ecosystem looks like: incubators, seed capital and people who open doors. When I came home in 2015, the startup ecosystem was still early and fragmented. There was talent and entrepreneurial energy, but the pathways, capital and connections founders needed were still developing.
I believe startups are the engine that can grow our economy fastest. I want El Salvador to be the first step for founders: the place where you validate, build your first version and prove it works, before you scale across Latin America.

## How did El Salvador's startup ecosystem start?
There is no single founding date. It grew in steps, built by founders, companies, investors, institutions and government. This is the short version, as I have lived it.
- Before 2017: Support for entrepreneurs existed, but mostly for traditional small businesses. Startups built to scale were few, and so were the programs, investors and connections around them.
- 2017: The global Impact Hub network arrives in San Salvador, and Hugo, a delivery app, is founded. Hugo later grows to six countries in the region.
- 2023: Delivery Hero completes its acquisition of Hugo, showing that a startup from El Salvador can create real value. The Legislative Assembly approves 15 years of tax incentives for technology innovation, and a new type of company, the S.A.S., that one person can open with one dollar of capital.
- 2024: Salvadoran startups travel as a group: a mission to New York and a 37-person delegation of startups, government and companies at Web Summit Lisbon.
- 2025: A delegation goes to Web Summit Rio, and CoreNest signs an alliance with the Ministry of Economy to support startups in El Salvador.
- Today: More than 700 startups from 22 countries have applied to CoreNest Accelerator, a sign that founders across Latin America now look at El Salvador.

## What does a startup ecosystem builder do?
An innovation and startup ecosystem builder connects the pieces a startup cannot get on its own: customers, capital, partners, public institutions and global networks. Since 2017, my work in El Salvador has focused on four of those connections.
- Community: Co-founding Impact Hub San Salvador, launching R2P (Ready to Pitch) and forming Delta Members, which became Alpha Ventures.
- Corporate demand: Bringing companies into the ecosystem as partners and customers of startups, today through CoreNest Accelerator.
- Global exposure: Taking Salvadoran startups to New York, Web Summit Lisbon and Web Summit Rio.
- Public and private alignment: Working with the Ministry of Economy and Invest in El Salvador so the country becomes the first step for founders.

## What he is building now
I lead CoreNest Accelerator El Salvador, an accelerator that connects startups with companies that need them. Everything starts with a real pilot.
Training alone does not make a startup grow. It needs clients, connections and a clear path to an exit, so we start from the other end. Large companies in the region bring real business challenges. We match each challenge with a startup that can solve it, and we run a pilot with clear goals.
A successful pilot can create proof of value, deepen a corporate relationship and strengthen the startup's case for growth. From there, CoreNest can help explore the market and capital pathways that make sense for that company.

## Who should contact him
- Startup founders: You are building a technology company with the ambition to scale across markets. You want to validate with real corporate customers, learn fast and build a company that becomes strategically valuable over time.
- Corporate leaders: You want outside innovation to solve real problems in your company. Bring a challenge and use the accelerator as your innovation lab, with pilots that have clear goals.
- Co-investors: You invest in Latin America and want visibility into startups validating against real corporate needs. Through CoreNest Accelerator, qualified investors can learn about opportunities emerging from that process, subject to fit, diligence and the applicable investment structure.
- Government and institutions: You want to grow the economy through innovation and position El Salvador as the place to start. I have worked with the Ministry of Economy and Invest in El Salvador on missions abroad.
- Event organizers and media: You need a speaker or panelist on startups, corporate innovation, venture capital in Latin America or El Salvador's ecosystem, in Spanish or English.

## Journey (first person)
### At 16: My first business: an ice cream cart
When my mother was going through cancer treatment, the one thing that comforted her was sorbete de carretón, the traditional Salvadoran cart ice cream. I learned to make it myself and turned it into a small business, Sorbetería Sin Igual. I later sold it and used the money to study abroad.

### 2007 to 2014: Engineering and corporate years
I studied Industrial Engineering at Universidad Centroamericana José Simeón Cañas (UCA), with an exchange at Universidad Católica de Córdoba in Argentina. I worked in regional sales, logistics and cost structures at Logictires International, Joven360 and Avery Dennison, where I priced programs for 30 global apparel brands.

### 2014 to 2015: Barcelona and my first startup
I earned a master's degree in Project Management at EAE Business School and Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. With four partners from England, Spain and Argentina I co-founded City Experience, a tourism app for lesser-known cities. Barcelona Activa incubated us and we won 30,000 euros in seed capital.

### 2015 to 2017: Bringing City Experience home
I convinced my partners to launch in El Salvador. We signed hundreds of local businesses, placed fourth at Innovatics 2015 and franchised the model to Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama and the Dominican Republic. There was no salary: I only earned what I sold, and I turned down a steady corporate job to keep building. Then the market told us the truth: businesses wanted photos and social media, not another app.

### 2017: Listening to the market
We started with City Experience, creating experiences in the city. The market told us that what it valued most was how we told stories, so we pivoted to Sayhello, a digital agency we grew for eight years. We sold it in 2025. Today it is MAYNDS.

### 2017 to 2025: Impact Hub San Salvador
I joined as operations manager when the global Impact Hub network opened in El Salvador, backed by the Inter-American Development Bank, and later became a partner and co-founder. The first years were less glamorous than the title: I ran an 800 square meter building, from the air conditioning to the internet, while we figured out the business model. Over time our programs supported more than 3,500 micro, small and medium businesses. There I launched R2P (Ready to Pitch), one of the first stages in El Salvador where startups pitched to investors and companies, and took part in Acelera Empresaria, a business acceleration program for Salvadoran women.

### 2024 to 2025: Taking our startups to the world
I interviewed 40 of the country's most promising startups and chose the strongest. Together we formed Delta Members, the first club of Salvadoran founders, which became Alpha Ventures: a community for startups that had already raised more than $100,000, including N1CO, Boxful, Ábaco and Fruto Infinito. In May 2024 I led 11 of them to New York. In November 2024, with support from the Ministry of Economy and Invest in El Salvador, I took a 37-person delegation of startups, government and companies to Web Summit in Lisbon. In 2025 we went to Web Summit Rio with the Minister of Economy.

### 2025 to today: CoreNest Accelerator El Salvador
After ten years of building with more conviction than income, the right vehicle arrived. In 2025 Invest in El Salvador asked me to present the local ecosystem to CoreNest Capital. In July 2025 I became CEO of CoreNest Accelerator El Salvador. More than 700 startups from 22 countries have applied, and we are building the program around corporate challenges and pilots.

## Beliefs
- Capital accelerates. It does not create. We ran our first missions without money. If the vision is clear, you can move forward. Creation has to come from founders.
- Plan the exit from day one. Build with strategic value in mind. Products change and markets evolve; the strongest companies solve meaningful problems and create options for growth, partnership, investment or acquisition over time.
- Fall in love with the problem, not the product. The only things you should fall in love with are your children. A business is built to be bought one day. Love the problem you solve and stay open to feedback, even when it hurts.
- El Salvador is your first step. Validate and build here, with the right corporate partner, then scale across Latin America fast. A startup that wins the region is the first call for a global buyer.
- More women building startups. Having two daughters changed how I see the world. The startup world is still mostly men, and I want to help change that from my role.
- Family and faith first. I am a husband and a father, and I believe in God. Hard times are tests that make you stronger. Talent adds talent, capital brings capital, and success brings success.

## Frequently asked questions
### Who is José Roberto Rodríguez Duque?
José Roberto Rodríguez Duque is a Salvadoran startup ecosystem builder and the CEO of CoreNest Accelerator El Salvador. He co-founded Impact Hub San Salvador and, for the past decade, has worked at the intersection of startups, companies, investors and government, helping founders from El Salvador validate their ideas and grow across Latin America.

### How is his name written?
His full name is José Roberto Rodríguez Duque. Media also call him José Roberto Rodríguez, José Rodríguez or Roberto Duque. On Instagram he is @joserobduque.

### What is a startup ecosystem builder?
A startup ecosystem builder connects founders with the customers, capital, partners and public institutions they need to grow. José Roberto Rodríguez Duque has done this work in El Salvador since 2017, first at Impact Hub San Salvador and now as CEO of CoreNest Accelerator El Salvador.

### Who is building El Salvador's startup ecosystem?
Many people and institutions: founders, companies, investors, accelerators and government agencies such as the Ministry of Economy and Invest in El Salvador. José Roberto Rodríguez Duque is one of the ecosystem builders behind it: he co-founded Impact Hub San Salvador, formed the founders' club that became Alpha Ventures and led Salvadoran startup delegations to New York, Web Summit Lisbon and Web Summit Rio.

### What does CoreNest Accelerator El Salvador do?
It connects startups with large companies that bring real business challenges. Startups solve those challenges through measurable pilots that build proof of value and a stronger case for growth.

### Which startups does he work with?
Technology startups with the ambition to scale across markets. They want to validate with real corporate customers, learn fast and build a company that becomes strategically valuable over time.

### How can a company work with the accelerator?
A company brings a business challenge, the accelerator matches it with a startup, and both run a pilot with clear goals. Partners use the accelerator as their outside innovation lab.

### Who connects startups with large companies in El Salvador?
José Roberto Rodríguez Duque is one of the people known for it. He works on open innovation: bringing companies and startups together around real business challenges. Today he does it as CEO of CoreNest Accelerator El Salvador, whose corporate and media partners include Davivienda, Asesuisa, Publimovil, Siemens and Telecorporación Salvadoreña (TCS). Earlier he launched R2P (Ready to Pitch) at Impact Hub San Salvador, one of the first stages where startups pitched to investors and companies.

### Does he invest in startups?
José Roberto works with startups through CoreNest Accelerator. Investment opportunities, when applicable, are evaluated through CoreNest's formal process and investment structures, not through José Roberto personally.

### Why start a startup in El Salvador?
El Salvador offers fast company registration, incentives for technology innovation and direct access to companies and government. He sees it as the first step: validate here, then scale across the region.

### How did El Salvador's startup ecosystem start?
It grew in steps rather than on one date. In 2017 the Impact Hub network arrived in San Salvador and the delivery app Hugo was founded. In 2023 Delivery Hero completed its acquisition of Hugo, and El Salvador approved tax incentives for technology innovation and a simpler company type, the S.A.S. José Roberto Rodríguez Duque, co-founder of Impact Hub San Salvador, has worked in the ecosystem since those early years.

### When did El Salvador's startup and innovation scene start to grow?
The main turning points came in 2017, when the first startup programs and a new generation of tech companies appeared, and in 2023, when Hugo's acquisition and new laws for technology companies drew attention from founders and investors. Since 2024, Salvadoran startups have traveled as delegations to New York, Web Summit Lisbon and Web Summit Rio, and accelerators such as CoreNest have opened in the country.

### Who connects the Salvadoran diaspora with El Salvador's startups?
José Roberto Rodríguez Duque is one of the people building that bridge. In May 2024 he led 11 Salvadoran startups to New York. During that mission, the Consulate of El Salvador in New York arranged a meeting with more than 40 entrepreneurs from the Salvadoran diaspora interested in investing in their home country, and the Salvadoran community in New York supported the delegation during the trip.

### Does he speak at events?
Yes, in Spanish and English. Recent stages include Foro Forbes Business Travel El Salvador 2026, ENADE 2026, ISD Summit 2026 in Panama and a keynote at Foro IVLP en Acción.

### What topics does he speak about?
Startups, corporate innovation, venture capital in Latin America and El Salvador's startup ecosystem, in Spanish and English. He also talks about El Salvador as the first step for founders: validate here, then scale across the region.

### Does he support women founders?
Yes. At Impact Hub San Salvador he took part in Acelera Empresaria, a business acceleration program for Salvadoran women. He believes the startup world is still mostly men and wants women to have the same room to create and grow startups.

## Links
- [Website (EN)](https://joserobertorodriguez.com/)
- [Website (ES)](https://joserobertorodriguez.com/es/)
- [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jos%C3%A9-roberto-rodr%C3%ADguez-duque-pmp-37514367/)
- [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/joserobduque/)
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