Andrew David Herweg Email & Phone Number

Ghent/Antwerp/Liege

Taking early stage tech start-ups registered in the Benelux region and Italy into global markets. I act as advisor, mentor and facilitator, helping start-ups in imec.istart's portfolio have soft and successful landings in new markets. Imec.istart was ranked as the #1 university linked accelerator in the world by UBI Global in 2023 and its portfolio companies have gone on to raise nearly 1billionEUR in follow-on funding.o Organized & led four business delegation visits to London, Paris (x2) and Amsterdam to enable traveling companies to engage with local investors, soft landing programs, major corporates, and secure business development opportunities at market leading conferences & tradeshows.o Plan and led bi-annual internationalization masterclasses for Scaleup Vlaanderen providing a framework for international expansion for mature and first-time scaling companies.o Advised and supported 100+ companies within imec.istart's portfolio to date, covering everything and anything from currency exchange rates to international hiring to Brexit export challenges.

Rwanda

Spearheaded in-country growth and international expansion for East Africa’s largest craft distillery, 1000 Hills Distillery.o Developed business plan and marketing strategy to triple revenue (y-o-y). o Designed new tourism products to create additional revenue streams, driving sales increase of 20% month over month.o Established key relationships within Rwanda’s tourism eco-system to drive bottle sales and create co-marketing opportunities.o Acted as official spokesperson and brand ambassador for local and international media opportunities.o Led public affairs engagement to build support with Foreign Heads of Missions and Government of Rwanda to streamline business processes and facilitate policy dialogue.

Rwanda; Kenya

Member of the executive team, focused on strategy and planning, market development and brand awareness activities in three African markets.o Designed successful hybrid marketing strategy; earned Brioche nomination for 2017 Smart Service Awards.o Facilitated in-depth market research, collected 300 customer surveys for mapping customer demographics and message development.o Cultivated strategic partnerships with local community groups, businesses, government agencies and influencers to enhance brand awareness and drive direct sales.o Managed 30 staff across sales, marketing, HR and customer service departments.o Developed relationships, earned coverage in The Star, Daily Nation, RTV (Rwanda), Business Daily, The East African and The New Times (Rwanda).

Global

First foray into entrepreneurship. Worked alongside the managing director in business development, funding, procurement and technology investment as well as spearheaded all marketing initiatives and Africa operations.

Kigali ,Rwanda

Evaluated preliminary programme viability and partnerships for $100 million investment in training and youth skills programmes in Rwanda’s hospitality and tourism sectors.o Conducted bid proposal evaluationo Interviewed prospective partners for programme matching.

Uganda; Kenya

Global communications lead for a non-profit, focused on content creation, media management and new customer acquisition.o Secured thought leadership placements in TechCrunch, Harvard Business Review, ICTworks and Next Billion.o Increased engagement and followers on Twitter by 77% and LinkedIn by 148% in 11 months.o Secured conference speaking opportunities at global conferences as ICT4D and ANDE Metrics.o Enhanced pre-existing webinar program, drove attendance and registration up by 109%.o Successfully engaged strategic donors of Qualcomm and Vodafone Americas to augment relationships.

New York City

Communications adviser for start-ups and SMEs in North America, focused on local and global market development. o Led team of five in the global expansion of Vision Service Plan (VSP) into EMEA and APAC markets. o Designed and implemented product launch for ETF and Absolute Currency Funds for Merk Investments to increase fund awareness and drive investment.o Managed community and public affairs engagement for public awareness campaigns of medical marijuana in the State of New York and Canada.o Planned and developed global media campaign for Nike/VSP philanthropy event in South Africa. o Led pro-active media relations campaign to enhance thought leadership of Espirito Santo Investment Bank and Merk Investments spokespersons in top tier U.S. and European business and financial media.

London, United Kingdom

B2B and corporate communications adviser for leading British and American financial firms. Includes secondment to Visa for the London 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games.o Designed factsheets, press releases, and briefing notes for Visa Europe’s month-long UK expenditure campaign. o Conducted crisis and issue management for a Big 4 accountancy firm during the HP/Autonomy write-down.o Media mapping for Visa Europe’s largest corporate PR campaign Mega Monday which generated over 160 pieces of coverage in national and regional media outlets.o Acted as a first point of contact for all media enquiries on Visa’s London 2012 Olympic sponsorship. o Liaised and coordinated with 21 European PR agencies working across 36 markets to promote the Visa brand and its services.o Provided policy insight on the European Commission’s SSO concerning multilateral interchange fees

Ma, International Conflict Studies, Merit

Ba, International Studies, Cum Laude