Valencia, 15th January 2025 – Juan Manuel Baixauli, president of AFOCE (Association for the Promotion of Entrepreneurial Culture) has presented the book ‘El Sueño de Emprender’ with Moroccan flavours as a way to spread enthusiasm for entrepreneurship. He was accompanied by entrepreneurs of the stature of Ángela Pérez, winner of the Jaime I Award for Entrepreneurship; Teresa Puchades, president of Avanza Urbana; Miguel Ángel Juan, managing partner of S2 Grupo, Francisco Segura, president of Grupo Segura and Teresa Silla, director of People & Culture at Jeanología. Sarah Soler, outstanding student and creator of the Contornà, a space for debate between students of the Chair of Business Culture, also participated. The book has been written by the journalist Ángela Valero de Palma and published by the Sargantana group directed by the president of the Association of Young Entrepreneurs, Paz Navarro, and will be available at AFOCE and online (https://npqeditores.com/producto/el-sueno-de-emprender/).
The aim of the book is, in addition to immersing oneself in the Moroccan desert and learning about entrepreneurship through its dunes, to help readers to grow as professionals and as people and to highlight the efforts of young university students who seek to carry out their own business projects.
The impossible journey that Juan Manuel Baixauli made through Africa more than 30 years ago and the creation of the Chair of Business Culture by Carlos Pascual together with a group of entrepreneurs led by Juan Roig and the professors Francisco Tomás, Jose Maria Peiró, Manuel García Ferrando and Aurelio Martínez, just a quarter of a century ago, were the seeds of the First Campus Experience for outstanding students of the University of Valencia in Morocco and the germ of a book full of adventures and enriching experiences. The book highlights the work of the Chair of Entrepreneurial Culture of the University of Valencia and narrates the relationship between university students and entrepreneurs after sharing so many moments together.
Juan Manuel Baixauli explained: “The University gives us a lot of knowledge but this book comes from a project that many entrepreneurs have done because we understand that there are a series of requirements to be an entrepreneur that cannot be learned only with theory, as tenacity, commitment, experience, drive, enthusiasm is much easier to develop if other people who have achieved it explain to you how they have done it. Skills are acquired through different activities, through experiences. With this book we want to transmit that spirit and reach those people who just need something to make them click”.
For Miguel Ángel Juan, learning to be an entrepreneur is not only necessary for future entrepreneurs but also for company managers because “it is a necessary attitude and a way of working, considering that, faced with a problem, a solution must be found in the context and with the means at our disposal”.
Ángela Pérez, executive vice-president of Health in Code, scientist and entrepreneur, declares herself to be a “real fan of entrepreneurship” and considers these initiatives to be essential for future entrepreneurs to have “that reference”. That is why she enjoyed recounting her success story in the book but without forgetting all the failures and all the times she had to get up again and reinvent herself. “The current entrepreneurial ecosystem makes it a little easier for future entrepreneurs than it was for us,” she says.
For Teresa Silla “the young university students of the Chair are special and it is a luxury to share with them. They are restless, curious, eager to learn, authentic, optimistic, action-oriented and with the necessary rebelliousness and non-conformism to want to improve the world with their ideas, their work, or entrepreneurship”. Silla, who took part in the second Campus Experience in Morocco last summer, concludes: “With these ingredients, the Campus has been an inspiration and a source of energy for everyone!”
Francisco Segura highlights “the entrepreneurial spirit and firm commitment to society that characterises all students of the Chair of Entrepreneurial Culture. Their dedication, their passion for innovation and their ability to face the challenges of the present, position them as future leaders and entrepreneurs who will undoubtedly transform our society”.
Sarah Soler, for her part, commented on how, after living the experience in Morocco as a student, she created, together with Julieta Pellicioli, La Contornà, so that “all the people around us could share the experiences of the best people in our environment”. The Chair of Business Culture is hosting this event, promoted by alumni, which brings together entrepreneurs and managers to share experiences.
Teresa Puchades emphasised that “it is key that the Chair of Culture of Business tackles such important projects with university students as the Campus Experience because it brings students closer to the reality of business, turning it into a creative, motivating and experiential experience that represents a further step in the entrepreneurial world due to the stimulus and contagion that it represents among them”.
Ángela Valero de Palma explained why ‘El Sueño de Emprender’ is a book that could be called a self-help book, as it encourages entrepreneurship and personal growth, but it could also be a useful manual on how to become a great entrepreneur while remaining a book of adventures and entertainment. “It all comes down to desire and attitude, apart from knowledge, and this was perfectly reflected in a week in which 25 people aged between 19 and 70, from very different backgrounds, lived together in situations, sometimes adverse, at 50 degrees in the shade and there was not a single bad face, just a constant sense of humour and the creation of a bond that is sustained over time,” he explained.
The book presentation was then followed by a tasty Moroccan lunch at the legendary ‘Dukala’ restaurant with tasty cuisine and warm and helpful service too.
Report by ‘24/7 Valencia’ team
Article copyright ‘24/7 Valencia’
Photo outside ‘Dukala’: Paz Navarro, Sarah Soler, Ángela Valero de Palma, Ángela Pérez, Juanma Baixauli, Miguel A. Juan, Teresa Puchades, Tere Silla y Paco Segura
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