In 2016, FIU joined forces with StartUp Cuba, a project of the Miami nonprofit organization Roots of Hope, to offer a summer program designed to foster and support entrepreneurship in Cuba. The program, called InCubando@FIU, ran for six weeks between May 31 and July 8. The curriculum consisted of business classes, taught in Spanish by instructors affiliated with FIU's College of Business, and intensive English classes by FIU's English Language Institute instructors. The curriculum focused on practical areas of small business administration such as finance, accounting, strategic planning, marketing, and sales.
Fifteen young Cuban entrepreneurs participated in the first edition of the program. The participants, all under the age of 40, were selected from a pool of more than 100 applicants from all over the island. They represented a broad spectrum of the micro-enterprises that have sprouted in Cuba in the last few years, in the spaces of media, fashion design, apparel manufacturing, financial services, and hospitality.
Taking into consideration the recent suspension of visas issued at the U.S. Embasssy in Havana, the InCubando@FIU program will be canceled for the year 2018. The program requires participants to have a B1 visa. Unfortunately, tourist visas (B2) do not qualify for this type of program. Therefore, InCubando@FIU will be suspended until the consular situation is normalized.
