Miguel A.Torres
CEO Wifreezone
Technology Mentor
Miguel is a technical engineer from the University of Huelva, and in 2000 he started working as a systems administrator in various projects in Madrid, mainly in internet operators (Jazztel, Eresmás…).
Later, he landed at Grupo PRISA, and it was then when he specialized in network administration and computer security, to become the head of Information Security at Prisa Digital, the business unit responsible for websites such as elpais.com, as.com, cincodias.com, los40principales.com, cadenaser.com, etc.
He spent almost 15 years in Madrid, where he learnt a lot, starting from the most technical jobs and then defining the information security strategy for a large international company like Grupo Prisa. In his last stage at Prisa, he began to show interest in the business side: how new products were created, which were their business models… that is when the interest for entrepreneurship started to grow.
He left the capital and started his first startup, Wifreezone, being selected by the accelerator Business Booster in Valencia in its seed phase, and then by Andalucía Open Future (El Cubo) for its growth phase. It has already been 7 years as CEO in Wifreezone, where he has been facing and resolving the challenges that arise in all domains: technological, marketing and sales, recruitment and retention of talent. A whole experience of which he is more than proud, no wonder!
In addition, for several years he has been collaborating and helping other startups as a mentor and advisor, not only in technological areas, but also in the validation of hypotheses, marketing strategies, etc.
His family lives in a small fishing village, Punta del Moral, and even though he was born in the city of Huelva, that is the village in which he has grown as a child. Miguel recalls that he was not aware of how much he loved the sea until he went to Madrid, realizing the truth of the phrase “you don’t know what you have until you lose it”.
He is fond of fishing and surfing, and the sea is the only place where he really disconnects from everything else, also being one of the few places where he likes to be alone.
In our mentor’s opinion, La Lonja de la Innovación can be a meeting point for the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Huelva. There are many entrepreneurs in the city, with great projects and ideas, but they do not know each other, and this is the opportunity for them to come together, collaborate and value the potential that the people of Huelva have.
In addition, he is going to provide the support and companionship that many projects need to materialize, to grow or simply to improve. From his personal experience of being accelerated in Andalucía Open future, the acceleration methodology that Telefónica uses is very solid, proven and always in continuous improvement, so he believes that the Port Authority of Huelva has chosen wisely its partner to launch the first startup accelerator in the province.
Last but not least, he considers that La Lonja is going to put Huelva on the map of entrepreneurship, attracting companies in the sector that will see an opportunity, retaining talent in Huelva, or even making the emigrants come back home.
Miguel finishes his speech by pointing out that this is an important challenge that will, for sure, come to fruition, and we could not agree more!