SAN JUAN, PR - The Puerto Rico Builders Association (ACPR) and Grupo Guayacán, Inc. (GGI) announced the opening of the call for applications for their new scholarship program, the ACPR-Guayacán Fellowship, which will be administered by the Puerto Rico Community Foundation (PRCF). The basis for the fellowship is the Future Builders of Puerto Rico Scholarship Fund, which for 10 years has provided scholarships to individuals in construction-related professions affiliated with the Association. The Fellowship, available exclusively to executives and employees of ACPR's member companies, will offer an individual the opportunity to participate in the Entrepreneur's Boot Camp: A Deep Dive for New Ventures at Babson College.
Entrepreneur's Boot Camp is an intensive executive education program offered by Babson College, a leading academic institution in entrepreneurship. Led by a group of distinguished professors, the program is designed to develop entrepreneurial skills and prepare its participants to identify opportunities to undertake new entrepreneurial projects or launch new innovation initiatives in existing companies. The objective of the Boot Camp is to provide the tools, strategies and confidence to evaluate, determine viability, launch and grow new ventures or accelerate the growth of existing companies.
The Fellowship is the first initiative to be carried out as a result of a Collaboration Agreement signed by the ACPR and GGI in the middle of last year with the objective of joining efforts and developing initiatives that stimulate education and local business development. The collaboration also includes the FCPR, an entity that has been managing the Future Builders of Puerto Rico Scholarship since 2007. The short-term goal is to promote business development and training initiatives among ACPR members.
“At ACPR we are committed to collaborate in the economic development of Puerto Rico. As part of that vision we are proud to collaborate with entities such as Guayacán since we are both actively working to promote economic and business development on our island,” shared ACPR president, architect Ricardo Álvarez-Díaz. “Our collaboration is focused on the development of initiatives and solutions that contribute to the economic growth of the Island and provide support to future entrepreneurs.”.
“At Guayacán, we are proud to collaborate with the Puerto Rico Builders Association to stimulate an entrepreneurial vision with an innovative approach and global reach among its enrollment. The new Fellowship will allow us to give a scholarship recipient from ACPR's network of partner companies access to an executive education opportunity in entrepreneurship at one of the most prominent institutions in this field at the international level. Guayacán, through its program of Fellowships,has a long history of collaboration with Babson College and we are excited about the opportunity to impact a new audience,” said Laura Cantero, executive director of Guayacán.
The call for the Fellowship will be open until friday, march 17 of 2017 and the scholarship recipient is expected to be notified on or before the 20th of the same month. The scholarship will cover all tuition, materials and living expenses. The selected scholarship recipient will only be responsible for the cost of airfare to Boston to attend the seminar, which will be offered from the 20th of each month. May 22-26 of this year.
“I am very pleased that our Institution is participating in this new stage of the Fund. We must strengthen economic development strategies for the Puerto Rico of the future. This is a concrete way in which the business and philanthropic sectors collaborate to train the human resources that will help in this arduous task,” said Dr. Nelson I. Colón Tarrats, executive president of the FCPR.
Interested parties should access the online application through the following link: http://bit.ly/ACPR-GGapplication. For more information, please contact Jocelyn G. Capeles Pérez, Senior Donor Services Officer at FCPR by phone at 787-721-1037 or by email at jgcapeles@fcpr.org.
###
About ACPR: The Puerto Rico Builders Association is a private, non-profit organization established in 1951. Its purpose is to represent leading developers of housing, commercial and office, industrial and tourism projects. The Association also represents investors, suppliers, banks, professionals and companies associated with development and construction in Puerto Rico. Its objective is to promote and lead planned, safe and sustainable development, to serve as the economic engine of the Island, in collaboration with the private and public sectors of Puerto Rico.
About GGI: Grupo Guayacán, Inc. is a non-profit entity founded in 1996. Its main objective is to lead the development of an entrepreneurial ecosystem to foster global companies and entrepreneurs that are engines of economic and social value creation in Puerto Rico, and at the same time stimulate a robust private capital market in the country.
About FCPR: The Puerto Rico Community Foundation (PRCF) has collaborated with nonprofit organizations throughout Puerto Rico: Awarded $58 million in grants, scholarships and training to nonprofit organizations * Awarded over 1,200 scholarships * Supported over 1,500 community projects * Promoted 500 microenterprises - 1,200 jobs * Promoted the development and rehabilitation of 6,000 housing units in collaboration with CHDOs.