GLE Newsletter

Award-winning business plan authors gather with Drs. Sergio and Marcela Matviuk. (From left to right): Dr. Sergio Matviuk, Ernesto Ramos Bedón, Rolando Verastegui Wong, Escarly Cárdenas Ramirez, Jorge Pinto Rojas and Dr. Marcela Matviuk

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - From 3,400 participants to 10 finalists to five winners, The Kingdom Entrepreneurs five-month entrepreneurship training program, sponsored by Regent University's School of Global Leadership & Entrepreneurship (GLE), came to a stellar close with the selection of its top five business plan winners in Lima, Peru on April 3.

Representing Peru's jungle, mountain and coastal areas, five winners were awarded seed money to launch their entrepreneurial ventures, which included plans for re-forestation; soy butter production; building administration software; a cyber cafe and an FM radio station. Those awarded were: Escarly Cárdenas Ramirez (Pucallpa, Peru); Karen Oviedo Cuadros (Arequipa, Peru); Guillermo Gonzáles Valencia (Lima, Peru); Jorge Pinto Rojas & Rolando Verastegui Wong (Lima, Peru); Ernesto Ramos Bedón (Callao, Peru).

"Initiative is the principal element that characterizes an entrepreneur," said Dr. Sergio Matviuk, GLE assistant professor and head of The Kingdom Entrepreneurs program.

Due to the high quality of the business plans, Probide, an NGO located in Lima, Peru, along with the Inter-American Development Bank, invited all 10 finalists to participate in their upcoming contest to win additional seed money of up to $16,000 USD.

According to Matviuk, "This awards ceremony was a joyous end to what has been an incredible journey for these young entrepreneurs. It has been our pleasure to provide this training program to these Peruvian leaders who are now ready to move forward in not only making a better life for themselves, but also for their home country of Peru."

The Kingdom Entrepreneurs program was designed specifically for young adults interested in entrepreneurship and individuals planning to launch new business initiatives as a way of overcoming the country's unemployment rate and slow micro economic development. It began in August 2007 with 3,400 participants who went through a detailed selection process. This process included intensive seminars, workshops and online testing, and concluded with the business plan competition in which 153 business plans were submitted.

About the School of Global Leadership & Entrepreneurship

The School of Global Leadership & Entrepreneurship (GLE) is one of seven graduate schools within Regent University and is located in Virginia Beach, Va. Offering fully-accredited master's and doctoral degrees in a flexible online format, GLE provides rigorous, yet innovative academic programs that can accommodate even the busiest professionals. For more information, visit www.regent.edu/global.

Founded in 1978, Regent University has more than 4,000 students studying on its campus in Virginia Beach, Va., and online around the world. Regent offers bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from a Christian perspective in fields including business, communication and the arts, divinity, education, government, law, leadership, and psychology and counseling.