The session ended on December 18, and with it the last Emprende Workshop for the year 2015. Everything is ready for the upcoming workshops to take place in early January: registration is complete, the texts printed and the instructors assigned for each module. The only thing that remains to be done by the CubaEmprende team is to finalize the details for the rest of the activities planned for 2016.

But as an inescapable habit at the close of each year, we must take stock of what the project has attained during this cycle. A total of 20 workshops have been offered (an average of two per month, with the exception of August and December), including four workshops during the evening for a total of 409 alumni. More than 60 projects have been received and assessed in the advisory services area. In addition, two Business Incubator companies graduated.

The aforementioned numbers represent, without a doubt, quantitative growth with respect to 2014. However, no less important is the progress in relation to other organizational and strategic aspects of the projects. During 2015, CubaEmprende conducted a thorough research study in which the beneficiaries of the project were also indispensable players, with the objective of corroborating the components of the project that entrepreneurs value the most, as well as identifying those that need improvement to provide greater value.

And, thus, as we stand on the threshold of 2016, CubaEmprende has its strategy well-defined for the next two years as a result of this study: empower its development as a space for entrepreneurs to interact with one another that offers different levels of training and specialized advisory services in a dynamic and entertaining way, contributing to personal growth and the effectiveness of ventures.

For the sake of attaining this vision, the project plans to implement new modules and forms of training that will allow entrepreneurs to train in other entrepreneurial subjects, as well as to delve more deeply into some of the other subjects that are addressed by the Emprende Workshop. Moreover, the way to access the advisory services will be expanded and the form in which they are provided, including performing diagnoses of business processes and partnering with companies of the sector, among other actions.

Likewise, new spaces for entrepreneurs to interact are planned that will provide for greater integration and interchange among them and promote collaboration to resolve conflicts through shared experiences. There will be no lack of spaces, on the other hand, to promote the businesses’ goods and services.

Next year, CubaEmprende will also be celebrating its fourth anniversary and driving the positioning , in the entrepreneurial community, of its website that already exists since late 2015. Without a doubt, 2016 will be a year full of challenges during which, once again, the support of the entrepreneurs and our desire to drive the growth of their companies will be the greatest incentive.