Faculty leads first-of-its-kind program for Cuban entrepreneurs

A group of 15 small business owners from Cuba are the inaugural cohort of InCubando@FIU, FIU’s first-ever customized program designed to sharpen the managerial skills and business savvy of young entrepreneurs from the island.

During the six-week program, College of Business faculty will deliver courses in Spanish covering small business management, accounting and finance, access to capital, sales and marketing, corporate social responsibility and business plan writing. Participants will also receive intensive English courses offered by the FIU English Language Institute.

“The goal is to promote grassroots entrepreneurship and empower a new generation of business owners in Cuba,” said Carlos Parra, Marketing and Information Systems and Business Analytics professor at FIU. He will discuss proactive stakeholder engagement and strategic alliances in the InCubando@FIU curriculum.

Marta Deus, owner of an accounting and financial consulting venture in La Habana, welcomed the exchange of business practices and networking that InCubando@FIU offers.

“The business landscape in Cuba has many unique features that business owners here might find interesting,” said Deus. “I want to benefit from the hands-on experience and new opportunities we’ll receive so I can apply them to my business and watch it grow.”

InCubando’s participants are all under the age of 40, have a self-employed (cuentapropista) license issued by the Cuban government and have been operating a business on the island for at least one year.

Yorgis Morejon explained he’s anxious to learn about business management and the U.S. consumer market to help expand his Matanzas-based fly-fishing business. His dream: “to become the Bass Pro Shops Cubano.”

As part of the program, participants will also meet with local entrepreneurs who will serve as mentors and make field visits to high-profile businesses including Western Union and a Carnival Cruise Lines ship at the Port of Miami.

“Cubans have an amazing intuition for business, and they seem to be eager to learn about different approaches to business decision-making,” said Parra.

InCubando@FIU is a partnership between StartUp Cuba, part of the Roots of Hope organization, and FIU’s Cuban Research Institute, College of Business, and English Language Institute.