Colombian CEO to ring Nasdaq closing bell, celebrating global entrepreneurs

Carolina Durán, the CEO of Building Markets Latinoamérica, will ring the traditional closing bell at the Nasdaq stock exchange in New York's Times Square on July 24, 2026. This honor, typically reserved for prominent leaders and institutions, signifies the impact of thousands of small entrepreneurs worldwide who are creating opportunities in regions where talent often outstrips available resources.

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the caleña Carolina Durán, CEO of Building Markets Latinoamérica, will ring the traditional bell that marks the closing of the stock market day, one of the most powerful symbols of the global financial system.

The ceremony coincides with the global launch of the 'Opportunity Changes Everything' campaign. This initiative aims to demonstrate how economic development accelerates when small businesses gain access to markets, buyers, and business networks. Building Markets emphasizes that opportunity is not about aid but about empowering purpose-driven businesses to become engines of shared prosperity, fostering a model of conscious capitalism where social impact and economic growth advance together.

Building Markets has a significant track record of supporting small enterprises. According to the organization, it has assisted over 28,000 small businesses, facilitating contracts valued at more than $1.5 billion. This work has contributed to the creation of over 78,000 jobs globally.

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the opportunity is not assistance: it is the ability to turn businesses with purpose into engines of shared prosperity, strengthening a model of conscious capitalism, where social impact and economic growth go hand in hand.

For Durán, this recognition transcends personal achievement. It represents a new generation of Colombian leadership committed to economic development through strengthening historically marginalized entrepreneurs and connecting local talent with global markets. She noted that Colombia is a nation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with nearly two million formally operating businesses. Many of these are led by resilient individuals, including single mothers, displaced persons, and refugees, who started businesses out of necessity or from a strong idea, striving to build a life project.

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Colombia is a country of SMEs, almost two million companies that are working formally, making a difference, creating productive fabric, creating value and the vast majority of those companies are in the hands of very resilient people, single mothers, displaced people, migrants, refugees who, at some point in their lives, undertook out of necessity, but also because they had a great idea in their mind and also wanted to move forward a life project.