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Representatives from Puerto Rican health insurance technology company Abartys Health and Brands of Puerto Rico have been chosen among 77 participants to take part in the 7th cohort of the prestigious Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative Education-Scaling (SLEI-Ed) Program.
They were selected by the Latino Business Action Network, or LBAN, which is working with the SLEI-Ed program, an immersive seven-week course providing participants with scaling frameworks, a diversified network of capital providers, business mentorship and a deep understanding of mobilizing resources for expanding their ventures and creating sustainable growth.
The “Scaling Up Your Venture” course, offered through Stanford Graduate School of Business Executive Education, is taught by scaling expert and GSB Organizational Behavior Professor Hayagreeva “Huggy” Rao.
“We couldn’t be more energized, enthusiastic and purposeful in welcoming these 77 Latinx entrepreneurs that represent the best-in-class in the United States. At LBAN we continue staying true to our core purpose, to strengthen the U.S. by improving the lives of Latinos,” said LBAN CEO Mark Madrid.
The criteria for program applicants are generating annual gross revenues of at least $1 million or having raised at least $500,000 from external sources. Combined annual revenue for the 432 program graduates of the scaling program surpasses the $1.6 billion mark. These Latinx entrepreneurs employ more than 45,000 across 30 states and Puerto Rico. The cohort convened on May 18, 2019. Once completed, participants will receive a certificate and access to a network of 432 Latino-owned businesses.
“It can only be described as ‘wow.’ To participate in this program, you have to have reached a certain level of revenue. You have to have raised a specific amount of capital and have a certain number of employees,” said Dolmarie Méndez, co-founder of Abartys Health, said during an interview during the “En Una Hora” radio show on 11Q 1140 AM, in which News is my Business participates.
“You have to be ready to scale your company. We applied and qualified. This has opened up the doors of Silicon Valley to us, because that’s the caliber of professors that they have there,” she said. “This is the type of professional that I would never bump into in Puerto Rico. It’s another league. After that, there’s not much more to look for.”
By landing among the 77 participants of the program, Abartys and Brands Of America, represented by Nestor Guarien Taveras, “have become Puerto Rico’s ambassadors in the Stanford program,” Méndez said.
“We’re ready to go through the company scaling process in Stanford. As part of the process, we have the commitment of transferring the knowledge we obtain through the program to our team here, so we scale the company together,” she added. “My team has to learn what I’m learning over there, so we’re all rowing in the same direction.”
“This should be a game-changer for us in terms of exports,” Méndez said.
As originally reported by: News is my Business
