Marina Tognetti is an Italian entrepreneur and business executive based in Amsterdam. She is the founder and CEO of Myngle, a pioneer in live online language education that has become a significant player in its segment. mYngle offers customized language training programs through video conferencing in 45 different languages to learners located anywhere in the world. mYngle was initially launched as a B2C marketplace, but was successfully turned into a high quality B2B platform, serving some of the most prestigious brands in the world.
Education and Career
Marina Tognetti graduated cum laude in Business & Economics from the Luiss Guido Carli University in Rome, after which she earned an MBA at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France. She lived and worked in different countries, and spent one year traveling through Asia. She speaks Italian, English, Dutch, French, Spanish, and a bit of Mandarin. She started her career in marketing at Procter & Gamble in Rome, working on different consumer brands. She then moved to The Netherlands where she worked for Philips in Eindhoven, responsible for consumer monitors for South Europe. After her MBA at INSEAD, she joined Sara Lee in the division Coffee and Grocery, where she became first Marketing Director for Out of Home in Paris, France, then moved back to The Netherlands as Director of New Products. She then joined The Boston Consulting Group, and it was when working on a project on internet strategy that she first saw the potential of the Internet to disrupt entire industries and change forever the way we buy, sell, interact. She decided to do some hands-on experience in the Internet, joining eBay, after which she was ready to start her own company and founded mYngle. She was inspired to start a platform for language learning when she was having difficulty learning Chinese herself. She concluded that language learning would be much easier if people could learn languages as if they were living in the country where the language was spoken, benefiting from native teachers through internet connections. Her startup was able to expand with funding first from HenQ and some private investors and then from Rabobank in 2009. The company made the switch from consumers to corporate clients early on and is now primarily focused on business clients.
Recognitions
Marina is a regular speaker at conferences about women's leadership, entrepreneurship, and innovation. She received many international recognitions for her contribution as a woman in technology: 2020: The 10 Most Empowering Women in Business 2019: Elite League of Innovative CEOs; 10 Most Inspiring Entrepreneurs; 25 Creative Businesswomen Moving Beyond Excellence 2018: WEF Exceptional Women of Excellence; 20 Successful Shepreneurs to Watch; 20 Successful Businesswomen to Look For 2017: WEF Iconic Women Creating a Better Worldfor All; 50 Most Inspiring Women in Tech Netherlands; 20 Impeccable Women in Business; 30 Most Inspiring Women in Business 2016: 50 Most Inspiring Women in Dutch technology Sector 2015: 50 Most Inspiring Women Tech Leaders in Europe 2014: GIT Girls in Tech of the Month 2012: Top 100 Women in Tech in Europe 2010: The Next Women 2009: 49 Most Notable Female Internet Heroes; Plugg People’s Choice 2008: Accenture Innovation Award; European Ventures Award; Benelux Ventures Award; Female Internet Hero of the Week.
