I learned about 10x10kCuba from Eduardo Perez at an HastaCuba meetup.

It's interesting that neither of my friends in Bayamo knew about it. It's just not as easy to hear about tech events going on in Cuba while living there.

10x10kCuba is an organization that is supporting Cuban tech entrepreneurship on the island through a competition. The organization is supported by some Cuban and US entities.

Cuban entrepreneurs and cooperatives submited their ideas and 10 winners were selected last October. Prices for the winners included a tour of the tech ecosystem in San Francisco and Palo Alto. And, this is where I meet some of them last February.

Meeting the winners:

AmericasClub sponsored a happy hour for the winners in San Francisco. I was invited by Eduardo.

I had the honor to talk to Víctor Manuel Moratón, founder of NinjaCuba. His ideas to disclosure Cuban talent are great.

The idea behind NinjaCuba is to open Cuban IT professional talent to the world:

    - As an employer, it let's hire Cuban talent through their platform.
    - As a Cuban in tech it lets submit your profile and offer your skills.

Also, I had the honor to meet Rafael, a member of MiKma. Man, such an entrepreneurial spirit. He has developed several projects in Cuba, from a Cuban version of Laser Tag to Mikama, an AirBnb-like app which let's only Cubans make resevervations. He has a full range of entrepreneurship skills.

I'm glad I had a chance to met and talked them all. It was a great pleasure. I learned, once again, first hand that "necessity is the mother of invention and nowhere is that more true than in Cuba".

By then end of February the story was aired by NBC Bay area, watch video here. In the video the program host quoutes a well-know proverb "They say necessity is the mother of invention and nowhere is that more true than in Cuba" which I've found several times very true even along my own life.