Akira Takahashi

Akira started his professional career as an economist at the Bank of Japan. After switching industry-side, he led a corporate turn-around of a small manufacturing company, working on corporate planning and new business development at Rakuten. Then he joined Welby (medical×IT startup) and contributed to its IPO in 2019. At Makaira, he provides consulting for both market & non-market strategy for large corporations, startups and NPOs in a wide range of industries.
Akira graduated from Waseda University School of Commerce, and got his MBA at Purdue University. He teaches at Globis Management School as Partner Faculty. He also works for community as Committee Member of the Tsukuba City Startup Strategy Formulation Council, and Advisor for the Organization for Small & Medium Enterprises and Regional Innovation, JAPAN’s Startup Challenge Support Project.