Hope Hopkins: 19 Who Made a Difference in 2019

Hope Hopkins: 19 Who Made a Difference in 2019

Hope Hopkins is the program director of MassChallenge in Rhode Island which is located at the new Wexford Innovation Center. 

This year, 24 startups competed in Rhode Island’s MassChallenge accelerator program.

The companies ranged from the training regiment created by former convict Coss Marte which has been featured in the reality show “The Real Housewives of New York City” to goTeff which is a company using Teff—a super-food from Ethiopia which will be marketed in the United States and create a market for Ethiopian farmers.

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She joined GoLocal LIVE’s Business Monday to discuss how this cohort of 24 companies progressed through the acceleration program. 13 of the 24 companies are Rhode Island-based and one is from as far away as Ukraine -- AirAdvisor.

The back story of the creation of MassChallenge is that co-founders John Harthorne and Akhil Nigam were working as strategy consultants at Bain & Company during the global economic recession in 2008. It was at this time that Hawthorne  and Nigram “envisioned a creative, inspired society in which everyone is empowered and has the resources to maximize their impact.” 

In 2010, the two launched the not-for-profit MassChallenge to create a “global movement to support entrepreneurship.”

Now, the MassChallenge is one of the most important influencers in the startup community globally with offices beyond Providence in Israel, Mexico, and Switzerland to name a few.