Laurent Lamothe

Born on August 14, 1972 in Port-au-Prince, Laurent Salvador Lamothe is the son of well-known artist-painter Ghislaine Fortuney Lamothe and distinguished intellectual and Spanish literature authority, Louis G. Lamothe, He demonstrated exceptional aptitude for both tennis and academics from a very early age. At twelve, he was already classed among the best hopes of the country he would proudly represent a decade later at the Davis Cup competitions of 1994-95.

At nineteen, Lamothe left his native Port-au-Prince to take up studies at Barry University in Miami, where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in political science. Subsequently admitted to Saint Thomas University in 1996, he completed a brilliant academic career earning a master’s degree, with honorable mention, in business management.  In 1998, at just twenty-six, he co-founded the company Global Voice Group with his partner Patrice Baker. The entrepreneurial spirit and dynamism he showed over the course of the subsequent decade led, in May 2008, to his being named “Entrepreneur of the Year” by the firm Ernst and Young. 

Having himself grown up in a country overwhelmed by poverty and a lack of natural resources at all levels, the Haitian businessman developed, over the course of his life, a profound sense of social responsibility and a desire to lend assistance to the less fortunate. It was from this perspective that he became involved in the presidential electoral campaign of his longtime friend Michel Joseph Martelly in the spring of 2011. As special advisor to the President of Haiti, Lamothe advised principally on matters of investment and socio-economic development. With former US President William J. Clinton, he co-chaired the Presidential Advisory Council for the Economic Development and Investment of Haiti.

Less than five months following his appointment as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Worship, Lamothe was designated Prime Minister of Haiti by President Michel Martelly.  On May 14, 2012, he became the youngest Prime Minister in Haitian history.  Presently, Lamothe wears two hats: he serves as Prime Minister and Minister of Planification and External Cooperation. He is the father of two daughters, Linka and Lara.

Source: Information provided by the Office of the Prime Minister,