Miami, March 2, 2017 – The Idea Center at Miami Dade College (MDC), in partnership with the Libra Group, will once again host the annual American Entrepreneurship Award (AEA), a program and competition that awards funding to support new business ventures. The kick-off event will take place at 6 p.m., Thursday, March 30, at The Idea Center located at MDC’s Wolfson Campus in downtown Miami. The kick-off event is free and open to the public.
Launched with an initial $500,000 commitment from the Libra Group, the AEA provides winners with a share of $125,000 in business start-up funding, as well as mentorship and business support services. This year, MDC Students will compete in a student track to win $5,000 in seed funding, twice the value of last year’s award.
The kick-off event is an opportunity for those who are considering applying for the 2017 American Entrepreneurship Award to meet last year’s winners and work collaboratively in teams through design thinking exercises to improve their entry to the competition.
Entries can be submitted at www.americanaward.com. The deadline to submit an application is April 27, 2017. Winners will be announced in June 2017.
About the American Entrepreneurship Award and Libra Group
The Libra Group is an international business group comprising 30 subsidiaries active in 35 countries across six continents. The group has principal operations in aviation, energy, finance and diversified, hospitality, real estate, and shipping. The American Entrepreneurship Award is managed by Libra Group’s Social Responsibility division which undertakes numerous education, entrepreneurship and philanthropic initiatives globally. The Libra Group also funds and manages the Hellenic Entrepreneurship Award (www.hellenicaward.com), now in its fifth year of operation. The Libra Group is owned by the Logothetis family. For more information, please visit www.libra.com.
About The Idea Center at Miami Dade College
The Idea Center is the college’s hub of innovation, the place where students from all disciplines can gather, collaborate and take advantage of resources and training to develop their entrepreneurial ideas. Through cutting-edge entrepreneurship education, professional development and experiential learning, students and community members can acquire the tools needed to identify challenges and develop solutions. The Idea Center has several components including the CREATE accelerator, CodePro,The Startup Challenge, Operation Startup and the Innovation Lab. It is made possible through the support of Knight Foundation. For more information, visit www.theideacenter.co