The STEP Project For Family Enterprising (Successful Transgenerational Entrepreneurship Practices) held its third Latin American Family Summit at Universidad de los Andes School of Management in Bogotá, Colombia, on November 6-7, 2009. 

Participants included 24 academics representing 10 leading universities in Latin America and 59 family members representing 15 entrepreneurial Latin American families.  The opening session was open to the public and attracted an even larger crowd of over 100 delegates.  The session included a panel of representatives from 4 regions of the world discussing “An Entrepreneurial Approach to Succession” and was done in partnership with Family Business Network, Colombia.

The Babson Global STEP Project is an applied research initiative that explores the entrepreneurial process within business families and generates solutions that have immediate application for family leaders. More information can be found at www.STEPProject.com.

Each year families who participate in the STEP Project are invited to join with academics for a STEP Summit. The Summit is a distinctive part of the STEP Project's applied research design, allowing the families to receive immediate value from the findings and the academics to better understand the needs of the families.

Sessions at the summit were built around themes which emerged from the case research. 

These include:

• Redefining professionalization in the succession context: INCAE, Mexico, Ecuador

• Transferring intangible resources during succession: Mexico, Venezuela, Peru

• Social entrepreneurship in the family context: Chile, Ecuador, D.R., Brazil

• Managing the family firm in uncertain environments: Venezuela, Colombia

Latin American STEP Project Partner Universities include:

• Fundação Dom Cabral, Brazil

• Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Chile

• Universidad de los Andes School of Management, Colombia

• Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre Y Maestra, D.R.

• Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador

• Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico

• INCAE Business School, Costa Rica/Nicaragua

• IESA Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Administración, Venezuela

• Inter American University of Puerto Rico

• CENTRUM, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú

The STEP Project initiator, the Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship, is the hub for entrepreneurial activity at Babson.  It is the Center’s mission to lead the global advancement of entrepreneurship education and practice through the development of teaching, research, and outreach initiatives that inspire entrepreneurial thinking and cultivate entrepreneurial leadership in all organizations and society.  Visit http://www3.babson.edu/eship/

For more information, contact STEP@babson.edu.