Pierpaolo Barbieri (born 17 May 1987) is an Argentine economic historian, researcher, executive director at Greenmantle,[1] founder of Ualá[2] an Argentina-based personal financial management mobile app, and 17Sigma[3] an early stage Latin American focused Venture Capital firm. He is also the author of the book Hitler’s Shadow Empire: The Nazis and the Spanish Civil War.[4][5]
Pierpaolo Barbieri | |
|---|---|
| Born | 17 May 1987 Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| Education | |
| Occupations |
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| Known for | Founder of Ualá, Executive Director at Greenmantle |
Academic and professional career
editPierpaolo Barbieri grew up in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His father is from Calabria and his mother is Argentine. He studied at Harvard University,[4] publishing for his honors thesis the book Hitler's Shadow Empire: The Nazis and the Spanish Civil War, on the economic ties between Adolf Hitler's Germany and Francisco Franco's Spain, which was awarded the Thomas T. Hoopes '14 Prize.[6] The research was conducted with the support of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies and the Real Colegio Complutense.[7]
Upon graduation, he studied at Cambridge, where he was awarded a DPhil in economic history.[4] Between 2011 and 2013, he was researcher and became Ernest May Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School and Strategic Advisor at the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET). He was also special advisor to the Berggruen Council on the Future of Europe.[8]
As an economic analyst, he has published articles in newspapers and magazines such as the Spanish newspaper El País.[9]
He is executive director at Greenmantle, a macroeconomic and geopolitical consulting firm,[10] and was head strategist of the Brevan Howard Argentina Fund.[11]
Ualá
editIn 2017, Barbieri founded Ualá, an Argentina-based personal financial management mobile app that allows users to conduct transactions, such as money transfers, payments and purchases, without having a bank account.[10]
Ualá has initiated efforts to expand into the Mexican market, by the way of a not yet finalized acquisition of a Mexican Bank ABC Capital; the acquisition is pending regulatory approvals from Mexican banking and financial authorities.[12] Ualá has been the subject of complaints from users who allege they were victims of financial scams via the app. Barbieri has contested the claims.[13]
References
edit- ^ "Spanish Politics Show a Way Forward for Europe". Time Magazine. 22 April 2015. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
- ^ "Fintech start-up Ualá targets Argentina's unbanked with new mobile banking service". Banking Technology. 24 October 2017. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
- ^ "Uala Founder Raises $30 Million for LatAm Venture Capital Fund". Bloomberg.com. 18 April 2022. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
- ^ a b c Whetley, Robert H. (1 December 2017). "Hitler's Shadow Empire: Nazi Economics and the Spanish Civil War . By Pierpaolo Barbieri. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2015. Pp. i, 368. $29.95.)". The Historian. 79 (4): 883–885. doi:10.1111/hisn.12717. ISSN 0018-2370. S2CID 148832879.
- ^ Evans, Richard J. (5 November 2015). "These people are intolerable". London Review of Books. Vol. 37, no. 21. ISSN 0260-9592. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
- ^ "Sub 35: Pierpaolo Barbieri y la aplicación que sorprendió al mundo financiero". LA NACION (in Spanish). 11 March 2018. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
- ^ "Pierpaolo Barbieri profile at Institute for New Economic Thinking". Institute for New Economic Thinking. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
- ^ "Pierpaolo Barbieri profile at Belf Center for Science and International Affairs". Belf Center for Science and International Affairs. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
- ^ "Pierpaolo Barbieri". El País. Retrieved 26 December 2017. (in Spanish)
- ^ a b "Soros, Cohen Back App to Lure Cash From Argentine Mattresses". Bloomberg L.P. 3 October 2017. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
- ^ "List of Speakers at the 2018 Delphi Economic Forum". London Calling. 23 November 2017. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
- ^ "Cómo esta fintech argentina piensa crecer en México, en tiempos de inflación". Expansión (in Spanish). 20 July 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
- ^ Ferrari, Matias (2 March 2022). "Qué dijo Pierpaolo Barbieri sobre las denuncias de "vaciamiento" a cuentas de Ualá". Nexofin (in Spanish). Retrieved 8 January 2023.