Juan David Gomez

Juan David Gómez is the CEO and co-founder of Expansora, a U.S.-based company that helps Latin American brands scale internationally through e-commerce, particularly Amazon and other marketplaces, by combining automation, data and an emerging agentic commerce approach. He is also a co-founder of EduCéntrica.

Previously, Juan David co-founded Waykana, a sustainable guayusa beverage brand from the Amazon, and led it as CEO until its acquisition by Danec Group in 2024. Under his leadership with co-founder Demetrio Santander, Waykana built a network of over 100 indigenous farmers, was selected for the Endeavor Scale Up accelerator in 2019, was recognized by the United Nations as the #1 Scale-Up venture in social impact in 2018, and was named #1 SDG Startup at the World Entrepreneurship Cup in Riyadh in 2023, hosted by GEN. He raised a $1M USD seed round and led Ecuador's first small business IPO on the Quito Stock Exchange, which earned international coverage by Forbes and Bloomberg. Waykana exported to the USA, Germany, France, Canada, India and Brazil.

In 2022 he was chosen as a YLAI Fellow by the U.S. Department of State, and in June 2022 the Ecuadorian Government selected him for an innovation program in Israel, accompanying President Guillermo Lasso and a delegation of 50 business leaders. Earlier, he was head of sales at Linio Ecuador, part of Rocket Internet, and consulted for companies in California.

Juan David holds an MBA from the Quantic School of Business and Technology, serves on the Board of Directors of the Fulbright Commission in Ecuador, and is an active startup mentor and ecosystem builder. His approach is marked by a commitment to sustainable growth, a passion for coaching and community empowerment, and the conviction that economic results should go hand in hand with human development.

Speaking topics: cross-border e-commerce from Latin America to the United States; Amazon and marketplace strategy for Latin American brands; AI adoption and agentic commerce for small and mid-size companies; building and scaling startups from emerging markets; ecosystem development and social entrepreneurship.