Babson Receives the Gold Key to Manizales in Honor of Babson-Manizales Alliance

WELLESLEY, Mass., Sept. 17, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In recognition of the strategic alliance between Babson Global and the City of Manizales, Colombia, Mayor Jorge Rojas presented the gold Key to the City to Babson on September 13, 2012, and officially made Babson Global Professor of Entrepreneurship Practice Daniel Isenberg an honorary Manizales citizen.

The City Key presentation was made following two, day-long Entrepreneurship Case Writing Workshops for 110 teachers of entrepreneurship and related topics in Manizales led by Professor Isenberg, as well as the first Manizales Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Workshop attended by 40 of the city's leaders, including the owners of several of Manizales' leading companies and the General Manager of ICT for the Ministry of Technology and Communication who came from Bogota to attend.

The unusual ceremony also followed the participation of 21 of the city public and private sector leaders, including Mayor Rojas and five of the Manizales-Plus project team, in a four-day Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Training Program held at Babson September 4-7, 2012. In the program Babson faculty Heidi Neck, Vincent Onyemah, Les Charm, Jay Rao, Steve Gold, and Isenberg, as well as President Len Schlesinger and Managing Director Janet Strimaitis of the Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship at Babson College, taught the leaders Entrepreneurial Thought and Action(tm), high growth entrepreneurship concepts, and entrepreneurship ecosystem methodologies. Ana Maria Gonzalez, director general of Luker Foundation, which initially approached Babson in 2009 and is one of the funders of Manizales-Mas, commented, "The program exceeded our expectations, made us think in a very different way about entrepreneurship and how it applies to our city, and is already having a big impact on us."

In June, 2012, Babson Global and a broad coalition of regional institutions launched Manizales-Mas (Manizales-Plus in English), a multi-year project of the entire city of Manizales, in a strategic alliance with Babson Global, to create significantly more high growth entrepreneurship in the city and region by enhancing the entire entrepreneurship ecosystem: culture, policy, support infrastructure, finance, education, and access to customers.

"We are developing models and methods in Manizales and here at Babson that are scalable to other cities," commented Professor Isenberg. "There is rapidly growing interest among city leaders around the world in applying our methodologies, concepts, and experiences to enhance their own entrepreneurship ecosystems."

The Babson Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Project (BEEP) is part of Babson Global, the global action research subsidiary of Babson College, the world leader in entrepreneurship education. BEEP creates projects around the world to foster substantially greater levels of entrepreneurship in specific regions. For more information contact Dr. Isenberg at [email protected]. More information can be found at www.entrepreneurial-revolution.com and www.facebook.com/entrepreneurial.revolution.

Manizales-Mas is a multi-year project of the entire city of Manizales, in a strategic alliance with Babson Global, to create significantly more high growth entrepreneurship in the city and region by enhancing the entire entrepreneurship ecosystem: culture, policy, support infrastructure, finance, education, and access to customers. Launched in June, 2012, the project has 11 founding institutional partners, including the University of Caldas, the National University of Columbia, the University of Manizales, the Catholic University of Manizales, the Autonomous University of Manizales, the Luker Foundation, the Chambers of Commerce, the Caldas Entrepreneurs Network, Parquesoft, Incubar, and the Municipality of Manizales. The project is the first large scale application of Babson Global Professor of Entrepreneurship Practice Daniel Isenberg's entrepreneurship ecosystem strategy and methodologies. The project has a team of eight in Manizales, managed by BEEP staff.

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SOURCE Babson College