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WEGrow

Sally Buberman: An Argentinian high-growth woman entrepreneur

A success story: Sally Buberman Argentinian high-growth woman entrepreneur

WEGrow: Unlocking the Growth Potential of Women Entrepreneurs in Latin America and the Caribbean

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Sally Buberman: An Argentinian high-growth woman entrepreneur

About the MIF The Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) works to support economic growth and poverty reduction in Latin America and the Caribbean through the promotion of investment and private sector development.

As part of its program, the MIF seeks to support entrepreneurs and small and medium enterprises by creating a favorable ecosystem for early stage financing through angel investing, seed capital, and entrepreneurship. For more information, please visit: www.fomin.org.

About EY EY is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. The insights and quality services we deliver help build trust and confidence in the capital markets and in economies over the world. We develop outstanding leaders who team to deliver our promises to all of our stakeholders. In doing so, we play a critical role in building a better working world for our people, for our clients and for our communities. For more information about our organization, please visit: www.ey.com/mx.

This publication forms part of the study “WEGrow: Unlocking the Growth Potential of Women Entrepreneurs in Latin America and the Caribbean.” It was commissioned by the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF), a member of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), to EY. It has been prepared by EY Mexico with the cooperation and supervision of the MIF’s Early Stage Equity Group. The following people participated in the review process from the MIF: Susana Garcia-Robles, Monica Pina Alzugaray, Rebeca Granda Marcos, Xuan-Trang Ho and Elizabeth Terry.

© 2014 Inter-American Development Bank. All rights reserved; may be freely reproduced for any non-commercial purpose.

The opinion expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the InterAmerican Development Bank, its Board of Directors, or the countries they represent.

© 2014 Mancera S.C. Member of Ernst & Young Global All rights reserved

WEGrow: Unlocking the Growth Potential of Women Entrepreneurs in Latin America and the Caribbean

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Sally Buberman: An Argentinian high-growth woman entrepreneur

Sally Buberman was born as an only child in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1982. Her father was an entrepreneur who owned several companies in different sectors, such as veterinary medicine and technology, while her mother was a history professor. Thanks to her parents’ background, Sally has been able to succeed in combining both education and technology.

“I can relate to my parents, as they gave me all the tools I need to be who I am today.”

She was always a very curious child, who enjoyed figuring out how everything worked. As she grew up, she decided to study mechanical engineering in Argentina.

“I had a happy childhood, with both good and bad times. I have always been very curious, always trying to learn about the world. One day I even set my house on fire while trying to figure out how our heater worked."

HOW DID SHE GET STARTED? “I never thought about having my own business. I saw it more as a hobby.”

Sally remembered that her mother used to travel from town to town to teach history to students in rural areas. Thus, inspired by her new experience in online teaching, she decided to take teachers into classrooms through technology. At that point, something that she had started as a hobby turned into a business idea. She then convinced her partners, Juan Ignacio, Ignacio and Maximiliano, to get on board with this entrepreneurial idea.

With their business plan, Sally and her partners were finalists in a contest. Then they competed in Microsoft's Imagine Cup, where they won at the national (Argentina) and regional levels (South America) and went all the way to the finals in Korea.

In these contests they presented a prototype for their business idea. Then, thanks to all of the positive feedback and encouragement they received from the audience, they decided to continue with the project. After the contest, in 2007 their online learning platform, Wormhole, was born.

After finishing her studies, Sally began working as a teacher while she was also working at an energy company. Then, due to the sudden death of her father and her mother’s illness, she had to assume full responsibility for her family. One day, a co-worker who was also a college classmate told Sally that a company was looking for young people to teach online classes for students in the United States. Sally felt attracted to the idea of combining the worlds of education and technology and thus, began teaching.

Despite the excitement of teaching classes online, she was not fully convinced of the true impact on those being taught. However, after some time, she realized she was having a positive impact on the students, as they and their parents thanked her personally.

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Sally Buberman: An Argentinian high-growth woman entrepreneur

WHAT CHALLENGES DID SHE FACE? “It was like playing a game. We never realized that building a company would be something fun that could change someone’s life."

In 2007, when Wormhole was launched, its founders decided to quit their jobs and focus on finding investors for their project. However, at that time in Argentina there was not enough financial support for entrepreneurial activities.

Under this situation, the entrepreneurs had to tweak their plans. They decided that it would be best for Maximilian and Ignacio, both highly experienced information technology system engineers, to fully commit to developing the project, while Sally and Juan Ignacio continued working and earning money. Then, they would divide their salaries among the four of them and save the rest to hire their first employees.

At the beginning, they had many challenges to overcome, not only on at a personal level, but also as a team and as a company. First, they feared that without financial resources they would be unable to do anything. However, not being able to make ends meet was replaced by the passion they had developed for their project and the confidence that it would change people’s lives.

"We’ve fallen and gotten back up many times over these years... and we will continue to do so."

Another challenge they faced was limited access to technological infrastructure, including the Internet, especially when compared to North America or Europe.

offers a user-friendly product that works with the infrastructure or mobile devices available in the region.

Additionally, their commercial channel needed to be further developed, since without sales a project cannot get off the ground. Today they know their clients’ profiles, so they are focused on growing and on designing a model that can be easily replicated abroad.

As Sally points out, for her, being a woman in a male-dominated industry has helped her succeed, as she knows how to use it to her advantage. ”As a woman it is rare to be in the technology sector, since there are only a few of us. But I had the wisdom to capitalize on it and use it to my advantage."

As an entrepreneur, Sally has seen an impact on her social and family lives. At the initial stage of her project, she found it difficult to spend time with her family and friends.

“The business requires a lot of time. It represents a personal cost.”

The lack of technological infrastructure has been taken into account by Sally’s team, which

WEGrow: Unlocking the Growth Potential of Women Entrepreneurs in Latin America and the Caribbean

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Sally Buberman: An Argentinian high-growth woman entrepreneur

Also, one of the company’s founders, Ignacio, is Sally’s boyfriend, which made it difficult at the beginning to separate their personal and professional lives. However, she feels that working with him has some advantages, as he understands her responsibilities and functions in the company. Over time, she has learned how to balance time between her personal and professional lives.

INNOVATION: CONVERT THE OLD “E-LEARNING” INTO THE NEW “LIVE LEARNING”

The Wormhole project brought innovation into the world of digital education by converting the old “e-learning” model into what this entrepreneur and her partners call “live learning.” It offers educational institutions, businesses and professional associations the possibility of creating their own courses, training and educational programs from a distance, but with a focus on people.

“We believe that education is much more than looking at a web page. We are used to attending universities or colleges to feel connected to our peers and teachers. We just wanted to replicate the same experience with technology.”

Wormhole is the first "Live Learning Platform" on the market, with a focus on increasing and improving people's interaction by creating the most effective virtual learning environment possible.

Thousands of companies, academic institutions, and professional organizations in more than 10 countries are currently using this platform to optimize their education and training programs, which not only saves time and costs but also increases revenues.

The company has locations in Argentina, Spain and the United States, from where they lead their international expansion. www.wormholeit.com

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Sally Buberman: An Argentinian high-growth woman entrepreneur

WHAT ARE SOME LESSONS LEARNED FROM EXPERIENCE? ”It is important to trust, delegate and set limits when necessary.”

Sally explains that one must listen not only to mentors, but also to customers, as one can also learn a lot from them.

Sally confesses that delegating activities, responsibilities, and decisions has been hard in managing the business. However, this has already changed, thanks to the excellent technical level and degree of trust within her team, which allows them know what and when things needs to be done.

WHAT ARE HER AMBITIONS? “They have been the same since the beginning: Trying to change the world.”

Her ambition of trying to change the world has not changed and now Sally and her partners are more conscious about how to pursue their objectives.

Currently, there are 22 people working at Wormhole, which has a presence in more than 10 countries and has 100,000 users. The company has just started up operations in the United States, which reflects its continued success and brings them closer to reaching its goal.

Best advice ever received...

If you want faster results… do it on your own; if you want to move further ahead… you must have partners

Greatest mistake ever made…

Sally says that if she could go back in time, she might not really change any decisions or actions that she made in the past.

Nevertheless, she would have preferred to invest more in her entrepreneurial education, as she has had to rely heavily on mentors.

Assuming that I am always right and things are easy

“I recall at the starting point of the idea of Wormhole, people gave us free guidance on our project development. They saw four passionate young adults. I am really thankful for that because at that moment I did not know anything about being an entrepreneur.”

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Sally Buberman: An Argentinian high-growth woman entrepreneur

WHAT IS THE BEST ADVICE SHE CAN SHARE? According to Sally, a successful woman entrepreneur needs to have the same characteristics as any man entrepreneur. You need to be patient, persistent and avoid frustration.

“Entrepreneurship is like a roller coaster; you go from euphoria to anxiety in a matter of seconds.”

Being an entrepreneur is enjoying the rush, believing in your business and figuring out how to meet your objectives, she says.

FROM ENTREPRENEUR TO ENTREPRENEUR, THREE PRACTICAL TIPS FOR BECOMING SUCCESSFUL:

Share your idea. People think it will be stolen if you share it, but only a true entrepreneur will turn that idea into a business.

Money is not everything. You can start something without it.

Do not get discouraged, always keep going.

“Seek clients, not money.”

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Sally Buberman: An Argentinian high-growth woman entrepreneur

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