From El Salvador, for Central America and Latin America
José Roberto Rodríguez Duque
PMPStartup ecosystem builder and CEO of CoreNest Accelerator El Salvador
For ten years I have been connecting founders, companies, investors and government so that startups from El Salvador and Central America can grow fast, scale across Latin America and reach an exit.
- 20 yearsbuilding businesses, since his first one at 16
- 3,500+small businesses supported through Impact Hub San Salvador
- 37 peoplein the El Salvador delegation he took to Web Summit Lisbon
- 700+startups from 22 countries applied to CoreNest Accelerator
- IVLP 2022alumnus of the U.S. International Visitor Leadership Program
I studied abroad and I could have stayed. I came back because I believe in what this country can do.
Why El Salvador?
As an engineering exchange student in Córdoba, Argentina, I was the only Salvadoran in the program. Every time my country came up, people talked about gangs and poverty. I felt ashamed of something I did not control, and I decided I would help change how the world sees El Salvador.
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, none of that existed here. That gap became my life's work.
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.
What am I building now?
I lead CoreNest Accelerator El Salvador, an accelerator that connects startups with companies that need them. Investment comes as the result of a real pilot, not as the starting point.
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.
When the pilot works, the startup has a paying corporate client, proof of value and a much stronger case for investors. That is when we open an investment vehicle and invite co-investors.
- A company brings a challengeA real problem in its business, owned by a leader who wants it solved.
- A startup runs a pilotMeasurable, time-boxed and close to the company's core business.
- Investment follows the resultCo-investors put money into startups that already proved value with a corporate partner.
Corporate and media partners include Davivienda, Asesuisa, Publimovil and Telecorporación Salvadoreña (TCS). The accelerator signed an alliance with El Salvador's Ministry of Economy in 2025.
Who should reach out, and for what?
I work mostly in El Salvador and Central America, and across Latin America when the opportunity calls for it.
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Startup founders
You are building to grow fast and sell your company within about four years. You want corporate clients, regional expansion and the right investors. I am not an incubator: I work with founders who already know what a startup is.
Apply or write to me -
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.
Bring a challenge -
Co-investors
You invest in Central America or Latin America and want startups that already proved value with a corporate partner. I share deals that come out of successful pilots.
See deal flow -
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.
Start a conversation -
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.
Invite me to speak
How did I get here?
Twenty years, many pivots and one constant: build what is missing, here.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Listening to the market
We pivoted City Experience into Sayhello, a digital agency, and grew it for eight years. We sold it in 2025, and today it is MAYNDS.
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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.
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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.
Those missions were some of the proudest moments of my life, but they paid very little. The startups paid a small membership and I did not yet know how to take equity instead of cash. For a year and a half my wife, our two daughters and I lived with my parents so I could keep going. Everything in life is a balance.
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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.
Moments that built the ecosystem
Missions, stages and communities from the last ten years.
What do I believe?
Six ideas that guide how I work and how I live.
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.
A startup is a capital business. If you do not know who could buy your company one day, you do not have a strategy yet.
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.
Interviews and press
Where I tell the story in my own words.
Watch on YouTubeEl Salvador, the next Silicon Valley of Latin America
Fundamentos Media, May 2026. Ten years from Impact Hub to CoreNest.
Watch on YouTubeCerebroders podcast
October 2026. Leadership, startups and how exits really work.
- CoreNest launches its program for startups in El SalvadorDiario El Mundo, September 2025
- El Salvador boosts its economy with startups at Web Summit LisbonDinero, November 2024
- Salvadoran startups seek investment in New YorkEl Salvador in English, May 2024
- City Experience: the city in your handsDiario El Mundo, March 2016
- City Experience, an app that shows the best of the countryelsalvador.com, December 2015
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, led startup delegations to New York, Web Summit Lisbon and Web Summit Rio, and has 20 years of experience building businesses.
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 does CoreNest Accelerator El Salvador do?
It connects startups with large companies that bring real business challenges. Startups solve those challenges through measurable pilots, and investment comes after a pilot succeeds, through co-investment with regional investors.
Which startups does he work with?
Technology startups that want to grow fast across Latin America and sell their company within about four years. He does not run an incubator for traditional small businesses or early ideas.
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.
Does he invest in startups?
Investment follows results. When a startup completes a successful corporate pilot, the accelerator opens an investment vehicle and invites co-investors from Central America and Latin America.
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.
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.
Let's build it here.
Tell me who you are and what you want to build. The fastest way to reach me is LinkedIn.