Gabriela Ruggeri, business development director for UK-based publisher Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) International for Latin America and founding partner of Eastpoint Ventures, appears to be living several lives in one.
A permanent resident of Brazil, Chile and Argentina, Ruggeri also combines running her own independent film company, MyS, usually producing two films per year, with running her own events, two fund management companies set up in 2013 – Seagrass Capital Partners and Eastpoint – helping media company DMGT with its corporate venturing activities in Latin America and taking time out at least once a year to go on a holiday with her son.
Ruggeri described herself on her LinkedIn profile as an: “Organised, self motivated and detail-directed problem solver.”
Having invited her to speak at the Corporate Venture in Brasil event in October, this writer can only agree, having seen her put the other panellists who had flown in from Europe and North America in their place in terms of understanding the local market.
Her deals since 2011, when she started developing business for DMGT, have included Socialmetrix, Wormhole and Workana. Before this role, Ruggeri spent 14 years at DMGT subsidiary ISI Emerging Markets, working her way up from running a single country, Argentina, where she was born, to two – adding Chile – before managing a team of 36 covering Latin America.
During her final two years at ISI, Ruggieri started mentoring and sponsoring the work of emerging markets startup accelerator Endeavor.