IE University and Bancaja have signed a collaboration agreement to create the Bancaja Chair in Young Entrepreneurs, aimed at promoting the entrepreneurial mindset among IE University students. The Chair will be headed by Dr. Cristina Cruz, professor of entrepreneurial management and family business at IE and will be officially launched on June 3, 2009 in Segovia.

The management education calendar for the first phase includes workshops on entrepreneurship at the IE University campus. IE University students will have the opportunity to draft a business plan supervised by professors from IE, which enjoys world renown for its innovative and entrepreneurial approach to management education. The Bancaja Chair will organize dissemination events, including the sponsorship of the Second European Social Entrepreneurship and Education Consortium (SEEC) at IE University, which serves as a platform for entrepreneurs and researchers to present social entrepreneurship initiatives run by international universities. Chair heads will also be coordinating projects and research in the field of entrepreneurship, addressing issues like the impact of the economic crisis on entrepreneurial activity in Spain, based on the experience of Spanish entrepreneurs.

Cristina Cruz, director of the Chair at IE, said that the project was a source of great satisfaction for IE Business School. “We are delighted that banks like Bancaja are helping promote the entrepreneurial spirit, a field on which we have placed a special focus for over 35 years now, based on our conviction that entrepreneurship is an engine for the creation of employment, wealth, and social well-being.”

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