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By PRBI Staff
Grupo Guayacán officially launched the new edition of its business competition during an event with guest speaker Dr. Sean Wise
This past Saturday, October 10th, Grupo Guayacán launched the new edition of EnterPRize, its business building competition and acceleration program. The event’s keynote speaker was Dr. Sean Wise, venture capitalist and expert in startup development and acceleration. Dr. Wise based his presentation on the topic of his new book “Startup Opportunities: Know When to Quit Your Day Job”, how to evaluate new business opportunities to determine the right moment to venture into launching a new business full time. The book was co-authored with Brad Feld, recognized venture capitalist and TechStars co-Founder.
During the launch event, which was attended by a group of nearly 100 people, Dr. Wise explained how the key to launching your startup is to identify a good idea and transform it into a business opportunity.
“It’s a choice to get up every day and work hard. It’s a choice to make the decision to change your world. You have to choose what you want to become!” stated Sean Wise.
The details of this year’s EnterPRize competition were shared with attendants to the launch event, which was hosted at Banco Popular Foundation. EnterPRize’s objective is to accelerate the development of new global ventures through a rigorous educational curriculum, mentorship, and access to seed capital. In this new edition, EnterPRize broadens its scope through a two phase program focused on developing a strong group of startups capable of raising capital and scaling globally, creating measurable and sustained economic impact for Puerto Rico.
“At Guayacán we feel proud of EnterPRize’s track record and impact on startup development in Puerto Rico. For this new edition, we’ve renovated our entrepreneurial education curriculum and are adding new components focused on accelerating the development of new innovation-based enterprises that are truly ready to raise capital and launch an aggressive growth plan within Puerto Rico and beyond,” said Laura Cantero, Executive Director of Grupo Guayacán in a press release.
The first phase of EnterPRize will be the business building competition which has operated uninterruptedly since 2005. The competition seeks to identify and develop high potential startups through access to educational tools for developing strong business models, and the opportunity to compete for $45,000 in cash prizes from a group of sponsors. This year, EnterPRize adds new sponsors to its lineup, including: Caribbean Produce, Aireko Foundation, Banco Popular Foundation, Ferraiouli LLC, and Oriental.
The special prizes available for this year’s participants are:
Agriculture Prize $15,000 sponsored by Puerto Rico Farm Credit, Puerto Rico Coffee Roasters, and Caribbean Produce
Social Enterprise Prize $10,000 sponsored by Banco Popular Foundation
Sustainability Prize $5,000 sponsored by Aireko Foundation
Environmental Conservation Prize $5,000 sponsored by FirstBank
Innovation Prize $5,000 sponsored by Ferraiuoli LLC
Woman Entrepreneur Prize $5,000 sponsored by Oriental
EnterPRize’s second phase will consist of an acceleration program, sponsored by the Small Business Administration through its Accelerator Growth Fund Prize, granted to EnterPRize for its 10 year track record supporting startup development through education and access to seed capital. The new acceleration program will focus on preparing high potential startups to pitch their ventures to investors and raise the necessary capital to drive their growth and development plans.
EnterPRize participants must meet the following requirements:
The venture must be an original project
The business must be based in Puerto Rico
The business may not have received institutional investment before entering the competition
Less than $500,000 in revenues since the business was founded
Less than $100,000 in liabilities
Operating for less than 5 years
Team with at least two members
Those interested in competing in EnterPRize have until November 30th to complete an online application which can be found at www.guayacan.org. For more information about Grupo Guayacán and EnterPRize, please visit www.guayacan.org, call us at 787-641-6028, and follow us on Facebook wwww.facebook.com/guayacanorg.
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