Marcel Bruno Dridje
Startup Ecosystem Advisor and Angel Investor

Marcel Bruno Dridje, an INSEAD graduate, is a seasoned international advisor to Startup Ecosystems in the EMEA region. His diverse roles provide him with a comprehensive understanding of what it takes to establish robust incubation, acceleration, and investment programs.

Marcel holds different positions as an active investor by leading these initiatives: Sophia Business Angels, President Emeritus / European Business Angels Network, Board Member / Mediterranean Business Angels Network, Co-founder / Maghreb Diaspora Business Angel, Co-founder / EuropIA Capital, Board Member.

A seasoned Sales Executive, Marcel has substantial field experience helping IT and Telecom startups in the US and EMEA. Marcel has a broad range of experience in all aspects of sales, marketing, communication, and management, with direct experience with Fortune 500 enterprises (IBM, Nortel, Lucent, Cisco, EMC, ALU) and startups (Quantum, Andrew Networks, Pluris, Corvis, Ascend, and Airespace). During his career, he has held VP roles, most notably as VP of EMEA Corvis (first all-optical router), where he grew the team and business to outstanding success with a Nasdaq IPO. Marcel launched his career after completing a BSC in Electronics and Computer Science from Portsmouth Polytechnic UK. He walked away from his first position with IBM UK as an Applications Engineer, greatly relieved to embark on a career in sales.

Three major highlights from his career include helping Airespace be the #2 WLAN in EMEA market share and positioning Cisco as the #1 WLAN vendor worldwide. He has helped promote the Cisco VCE alliance (VMware, EMC, Cisco) and the BMC OEM relationship to kickstart their first SP IaaS Cloud offering worldwide. He also pioneered the French ISP Internet business while leading Ascend’s insertion into FT/Orange first ISP business to include ISDNET, OLEANE and Internetway. Marcel left his Director position at CISCO Systems to start his new venture as a Startup Ecosystem advisor and Business Angel. He helps startups with International Business development and accelerators grow and sustain incubators and their programs overseas.

A self-proclaimed advisor & Intrapreneur, Marcel loves new Challenges in sharing his 20 years of Tech and Startup experience to empower startup support organizations such as incubators, accelerators, and open innovation programs to thrive internationally.