Dallas Entrepreneurs’ Organization will visit Cuba in the fall

Dallas Entrepreneurs' Organization will visit Cuba in the fall
By HANAH CHO Staff Writer hcho@dallasnews.com
Published: 05 July 2014 09:12 PM

When you think of Cuba, you don't exactly think of the island nation as
a hub of private enterprises.
But that's what makes the country so intriguing to members of the Dallas
chapter of Entrepreneurs' Organization who will have a rare opportunity
to visit Cuba this fall and learn from entrepreneurs doing business there.
Entrepreneurship still flourishes in Cuba even though private business
owners face more barriers than Americans do, says Julie Nelson, owner of
Frisco-based event planning company Meeting Muse, which is organizing
the trip.
In fact, more than 1 million people, or 20 percent, of Cuba's workforce
can be classified as wholly private sector, according to a study by
senior fellow Richard Feinberg of the Brookings Institution.
"Entrepreneurs are always forced to think outside the box," Nelson said.
"These people are put in a very small frame of what they can and cannot do."
Nelson and EO member Jessica Nunez returned Wednesday from Cuba, where
they finalized the agenda for the October trip with other EO members.
They expect about 30 EO members and their spouses to participate in the
trip.
Nunez, CEO of Nunez PR Group in Dallas, said the global organization
promotes collaboration and sharing experiences with other entrepreneurs.
"We look to create unique experiences," Nunez said. "What better way to
learn that than to get out of the normal and get into what someone else
is doing. Cuba is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to explore
entrepreneurship in a different way and learn about the challenges in a
country controlled by government. As Americans, we have so much
curiosity because we can't go."
The trip agenda includes having keynote speakers such as a Cuban
economist and visiting paladares, a term used in Cuba to describe
restaurants run mostly by families.
EO members will be dining at those businesses as well as learning more
about how paladares operate.
The trip to Cuba is made possible because it's a licensed education
exchange trip known as a people-to-people tour. People-to-people trips
can only be offered by travel companies that have gotten a license
through the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control.
Nelson's Meeting Muse is working with a licensed travel company to
facilitate EO's trip.
The Dallas group will be accompanied by a Cuban guide and an interpreter.
Follow Hanah Cho on
Twitter @hanahcho.

Source: Dallas Entrepreneurs' Organization will visit Cuba in the fall |
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