Image: Participants with instructors on the last day of the program. Credit: UVG
Original post available at UVG’s website.

Por Luisa Sosa, estudiante auxiliar de CREA-UVG.

Training in entrepreneurship and innovation for the UVG Community

The UVG-CREA Entrepreneurship Center has launched their inaugural extracurricular training program in innovation and entrepreneurship, known as CREA Formación (CREA Training). Through the use of an engaging, participatory and collaborative approach, this course seeks to support aspiring entrepreneurs at the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala (UVG) to acquire the necessary skills as entrepreneurs to then apply their learning in the development of business projects. The program is open to the entire UVG community, including students, teachers, collaborators, researchers, and graduate students who wish to undertake an entrepreneurship experience in its early stages.

Modules and Methodology

In its initial pilot, CREA Formación is carried out through eight modules, applied to eight different workshop sessions.

The modules use active learning strategies, gamification, projects, research, challenges, and design thinking to support students by strengthening their skills and business projects. The objective is for participants to develop key entrepreneurial skills, focusing on the fundamental concepts to start, substantiate their ideas, take advantage of their personal knowledge, identify and develop business opportunities within the ecosystem, and to be able to present their proposal in a pitch.

Launching

The program made its debut at the end of October 2023, with 35 enrolled students. The modules were taught by five expert instructors from diverse backgrounds, including: Luis Pedro Falla Giron, M.A. in Higher Education; Jorge Mario Garcia, M.B.A, Director of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at ASPIRE; Julianna Balsells, founder of Fourfit Program; Julio Lemus, Director of Digital Mind; and Melanie Maldonado, business developer.

Julianna Balsells advising students.

Opportunities for students to put their course learning into practice are diverse, either through individual projects or by participating in entrepreneurship competitions. For the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, participation of its members in competitions is important to generate a positive impact, such as the Hult Prize On Campus and Enactus. Both are valuable competitions to address social issues through innovative business ideas.

Program Goals

The program aims to promote a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation within the UVG community, supporting the development of entrepreneurs that contribute to the economic and social growth of the country. Participation allows for the creation of a vibrant space in which entrepreneurship becomes a fundamental pillar to develop key competencies in the conception, definition, and presentation of business ideas.

CREA Formación now has a special role at UVG, becoming a crucial step for the growth of the entrepreneurial spirit within the university, offering an opportunity for entrepreneurs to carry their new products and skills beyond the classroom.

Workshop with Luis Pedro Falla, second day of the program.

The Experience

In the classroom, the students in the first cohort were motivated, engaged and excited to learn. Dynamic and active teaching methodologies resulted in a learning environment that was fun for the students, which enhanced their learning. Students finished the course with greater confidence to express themselves publicly, and with a solid business idea ready for validation in the free market of ideas.

Edgar Chen, third-year Mechatronics Engineering student, asserted “CREA Formación gave us the tools and technical knowledge to develop an idea, in addition to personal development tools; all those soft skills that help us sell that idea and move forward.”

In addition, Jorge Váldez, second-year student of Industrial Engineering, affirmed “the course offered me the basic pillars to advance and finalize my business idea.” Meanwhile, Guillermo Furlán, an undergraduate in applied mathematics, commented, “thanks to this course I was able to learn how to guide my project so it can become more efficient, when designing it and planning its different stages of development.”

Participants generating ideas on the second day of the program.

Learning

A valuable lesson that stands out from the inaugural course was the benefit of including a diverse set of participating teachers with different specialities. Each one offered a unique methodology, and their attitudes, strategies and resources contributed to keeping the students motivated. They also allowed participants to learn in individualized, and diverse ways, with the constant support and feedback from professionals backed by their great experience.

Additionally, the course gave students the opportunity to expand their personal networks, as they found a lot in common with the instructors, who share the same aspirations and values. For the most part, students who took the course did not know each other beforehand and took CREA Formación as a platform to meet new people and form new, multidisciplinary working groups and supports which survived beyond the course, which was a major benefit for everyone involved.

ASPIRE AND CREA-UVG

This program was developed with the support of the Achieving Sustainable Partnerships for Innovation, Research and Entrepreneurship (ASPIRE) Project, through the UVG-CREA Center for Entrepreneurship. The ASPIRE Project is funded by USAID and implemented by MIT, UVG ​​and AGEXPORT, with the goal of creating replicable models for how Latin American universities, in collaboration with the private sector, government and local communities, can respond to local and regional development needs.

The UVG-CREA Center for Entrepreneurship fosters the entrepreneurial spirit through programs, events and activities that promote inspiration, training, support and connection with the entrepreneurship ecosystem at UVG.

If you want to know more about future entrepreneurship and innovation activities at UVG, you can check out the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Calendar here.

About ASPIRE

The ASPIRE Project is a five-year, $15 million project funded by USAID and implemented by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Universidad del Valle de Guatemala (UVG), and the Guatemalan Exporters Association (AGEXPORT), with the goal of creating a world-class, replicable model for how Latin American universities, in collaboration with the private sector, government, and local communities, can respond to local and regional development needs. The project implements a collaborative approach to research, teaching, innovation, entrepreneurship, and tech transfer, based on the combination of local assets and knowledge with MIT’s experience in the innovation ecosystem.