New Entrepreneurial Center To Open At Wolfson Campus
On September 18 Wifredo Fernandez addressed an auditorium full of Honors College students at the Wolfson Campus and told them of his vision of the newly opening Idea Center, which will serve as a hub for entrepreneurship to students and the community at large.
“[We want to] build the culture of innovation and entrepreneurship to all students,”
said Leandro Fino, an entrepreneur who once began a business with very limited capital and produced a revenue of $75 million in only five years and co-director of the Idea Center.
The Idea Center will open on October 27 on the fifth floor of building 8 and feature an array of workshops, advisement services and lectures with the goal of helping students become successful entrepreneurs. The source of funding has not yet been disclosed.
Among the opportunities the Center will offer are a Startup Challenge (which Fernandez promoted during his presentation) that will give students the possibility of winning $5,000 to start their own business, a speaker series called Pioneers at MDC, a 16-week accelerator program that takes students through the “gauntlet of entrepreneurship” and a program called Phase II Ventures, which will be available exclusively to MDC students with family businesses that they want to improve.
Fernandez has had success in maintaining a facility in the spirit of entrepreneurship before. In June of 2012, Fernandez opened LAB Miami in an office building in Wynwood at 2750 NW 3rd Ave. His aim was to create a place for creative individuals to collaborate and host events.
Following a fundraising campaign, Fernandez and his colleagues were able to upgrade to their present LAB campus in February of 2013, a 10,000 square foot facility at 400 N.W. 26 St.
On its website, LAB Miami advertises itself as “a collision point for Miami’s forward-thinking minds.” The location has hosted a number of events such as hackathons, workshops and idea jams.
According to the Miami Herald, LAB Miami is part of a string of entrepreneurial spaces that have been opening up all across South Florida from Brickell to Midtown. According to Fernandez, these spaces not only provide a physical place for creative individuals to meet and work on their projects but also allow professional connections to be made.
One example of the networking the program hopes to foster is app developer Jordan Melnick. Having developed an app called Sktchy—which has now inspired a series of artists to produce paintings based on submitted photos—Melnick was in need of seed capital for the project. Fernandez was able to connect Melnick to an investor who was impressed with Melnick’s work and began a conversation with him.
“This is still very much a pioneer town,” Fernandez said.
In addition to being a part of LAB Miami, Fernandez is currently the director of the MDC School of Business. Fernandez’ background as a participant of Teach for America, an opportunity for college graduates to teach students in underprivileged rural and urban areas, “convinced him that educational equity is the civil rights issue of our time.”
“Every student has a reason to come to the Idea Center,” Finol said, adding that the Idea Center’s success will be measured by “MDC students accomplishing their dreams of starting a successful business!”
