Building a Tech Venture with Jean-Pierre Adechi

This is new elective programming for ventures in the VDPs and students interested in learning more about a particular industry. For this elective series, we will be bringing in entrepreneurs to talk about their experience building ventures in the following areas: Creator Economy (Creative), Consumer Packaged Goods, Sustainability, Tech, Social Enterprise (Civic Innovator), Healthcare, and Finance.  On February 21st, the speaker will be Serial Entrepreneur Jeon-Pierre Adechi.

Bio

Jean-Pierre Adéchi is a Serial Entrepreneur, Veteran Founder, and Lycée Français de NY graduate who also attended Wesleyan University. He was forced to drop out due to financial reasons in his freshmen year and found himself inspired by Alex Haley’s The Autobiography of Malcolm X to self-educate and launch his own businesses. His first business was Touche de Finesse, a high-end French catering company that serviced NY Fashion shows, the United Nations, The Food Network, and more. The venture helped him pay back his debt to Wesleyan and gave him the capital to pay for his education at Baruch College. 
At 22, he co-founded Authorized Dealer Films and the Alphabet City Dolly Film Festival. In 2016, Jean-Pierre recognized the need for ridesharing in college students, so he created Wheeli, a Techstars and venture capital-backed tech startup to fill the need. Wheeli was featured in Forbes and on BFM TV, but eventually ceased operations in 2020 due to Covid-19. Today, Jean-Pierre is thinking about the next venture he'd like to launch; in the meantime, he is consulting on projects and getting booked for speaking engagements.