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 |

Dallas Morning News -

http://www.dallasnews.com/business/small-business/20140705-dallas-entrepreneurs-organization-will-visit-cuba-in-the-fall.ece