Lyneir Richardson, executive director of the Center for Urban Entrepreneurship and Economic Development at Rutgers Business School, accepted the award at the 2015 IEDC Annual Conference in Anchorage, Alaska.
She said the honor was a benchmark, but also an indicator of more things to come.
"This is a prestigious honor and we are proud to be acknowledged for having social and business impact,” Richardson said in a prepared statement. “Now we are working on delivering more small business capacity building programs and partnering with other universities to create more entrepreneurs in urban areas.”
CUEED’s entrepreneurs vary from professional services, apparel, food, even manufacturing and distribution. All the participants are first-generation entrepreneurs.