Mateo Salvatto, a young entrepreneur showing how technology, inclusion and business can reinforce each other
API Leaders to Watch highlights outstanding leadership talent from the countries represented across the API Network, recognising individuals who are making a significant and responsible contribution to their organisations, industries or communities. The initiative draws on the breadth of perspectives within the API community to spotlight professionals who are helping shape the business landscape in different parts of the world.
The focus is not simply on established names or traditional measures of success, but on people whose achievements reflect integrity, a strong sense of responsibility and a commitment to creating lasting value, both within their organisations and beyond them. Their stories offer an opportunity to explore different approaches to innovation, growth and navigating the challenges shaping the world around us.
María Nicholson on Mateo Salvatto: Building technology with a purpose
María Nicholson, Founder of Nicholson Headhunting highlights Mateo Salvatto, an Argentine technology entrepreneur who began building his first venture at just 17 and has since gone on to found several companies. For María, Salvatto represents a distinctive model of entrepreneurial leadership: one in which technological innovation, social impact and commercial viability are not competing priorities, but part of the same value proposition.
Salvatto’s entrepreneurial journey began at a very young age, when he created Háblalo, a free application designed to support communication for people with disabilities. What started as an initiative to solve a concrete problem has grown into an international technology venture, now translated into 40 languages and used in 65 countries.
He subsequently founded Asteroid Technologies to scale this work, while continuing to develop new ventures addressing different challenges, including Grondplek, which brings 3D concrete-printing technology to Argentina, and Apgreid, an education technology venture focused on personalised learning and upskilling.
For María, the important point is not simply the variety of ventures, but the principle connecting them:
“What sets Salvatto apart is that he has not stopped at one success.”
His approach is grounded in the belief that businesses can be both commercially sustainable and socially meaningful. Rather than viewing inclusion as an act of charity, Salvatto frames it as a form of shared value, creating solutions that benefit the people who use them while also generating value for the organisations and businesses behind them.
As María puts it:
“He advocates for building profitable businesses grounded in inclusion and dignity, consistently framing social impact not as charity but as a shared value proposition.”
A different perspective on leadership
Salvatto’s trajectory has earned international recognition, including the Humanitarian Innovator of the Year award from MIT Technology Review in 2018, Best Social Innovator from Peking University and Global Entrepreneur of the Year from One Young World in 2023.
Yet María’s choice is not simply about awards or achievements. It is about the combination of youth, sustained achievement and a clear sense of purpose behind them. At a time when organisations are navigating rapid technological change, Salvatto also brings a distinctive perspective on innovation. His work suggests that the value of technology should not be measured only by what it can do, but by the problems it can solve and the people it can enable. For Salvatto, technology should be used with purpose and restraint rather than pursued simply because it is new.
A leader worth watching
Asked to define Salvatto in one sentence, María Nicholson describes him as:
“A young Argentine entrepreneur who has built a portfolio of profitable ventures proving that inclusion, accessibility, and social impact can be core business strategy rather than an afterthought.”
For María, this combination is what makes Salvatto a leader worth watching. His career demonstrates how entrepreneurial ambition can coexist with social purpose, and how technology can be used not simply to create new products, but to address meaningful challenges.
Mateo Salvatto is an API Leader to Watch, a young entrepreneur whose journey offers an interesting perspective on how technology, business and social impact can come together to shape the future of leadership.