CUD, Sacred Heart partner to develop entrepreneurial students
The agreement provides mentoring, training and business opportunities for students in Puerto Rico.
Looking to continue promoting Puerto Rico’s economic and academic development, the United Retailers Association (CUD, in Spanish) and Sacred Heart University have signed a collaborative agreement that will connect future entrepreneurs with the largest business network on the island.
CUD President Ramón C. Barquín and Gilberto J. Marxuach-Torrós, president of Sacred Heart, signed the alliance, which aims to “create spaces for mentoring, training and business experiences that strengthen growth opportunities for entrepreneurial students.”
The agreement will offer access to development programs, educational events, individualized mentoring and collaboration with private sector entrepreneurs.
As part of their commitment to innovation and the training of new entrepreneurs, this agreement will allow students of the Scaling@Sagrado’s Ciudad Empresarial program to benefit from mentoring and access to CUD resources, including the opportunity to present their businesses at events and receive strategic guidance to strengthen their business models.
“Puerto Rico’s economic development is intrinsically linked to the ability of our youth to undertake and lead new business opportunities. With this alliance, we seek to close the gap between academia and the commercial sector, ensuring that Sacred Heart University students have a solid foundation to successfully enter the business ecosystem,” said Barquín.
“All undergraduate students at Sagrado, regardless of their area of concentration, have to develop a substantial entrepreneurial project,” said Marxuach-Torrós. “They take a sequence of six courses that take them from the ideation and validation of their project to its development and execution.”
“Currently, we have more than 3,000 student projects in development. This important agreement with the CUD will allow students to have new mentors and spaces to present and develop their projects,” said Marxuach-Torrós.
He added that Sacred Heart defines entrepreneurship as “the active search for sustainable solutions to collective challenges through the execution of community, creative, health, technological or business projects.”
The agreement includes several benefits, such as access to exhibitions and business events organized by the CUD, business plan evaluations by experts, individualized mentoring with entrepreneurs affiliated with the CUD, access to coworking spaces and studios for recording workshops and presentations, and discounts on CUD events and business fairs.
