Empowering Underrepresented Students to Become Entrepreneurs
Through her groundbreaking Adopt a Startup program, Dr. Sylvia Robles is inspiring — and incubating — the next generation of sustainability-focused entrepreneurs.
How do you support youth who have incredible ideas for sustainable businesses, but lack the resources to develop them? If you’re Dr. Sylvia Robles, the answer is simple: You help fund their startup.
Assistant Professor of Practice at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Dr. Robles is a champion of students and entrepreneurs from underrepresented backgrounds. Since 2017 she has been focused on sustainability in general, and catalyzing sustainable innovation for local businesses in south Texas specifically with her “Adopt a Startup” program.
The program offers entrepreneurs training and support in creating solutions for local businesses, often with sustainability in mind. One team recently developed a device that can mass-harvest mesquite beans — a boon for a bean company in the Rio Grande Valley, which can now use the superfood as a natural sweetener for more products.
Dr. Robles is this year’s winner of the Sustainable Practice Impact Award, presented by The Lemelson Foundation and VentureWell. Each year, this award honors individuals, companies, or institutions that have made an exceptional contribution toward developing clean technologies, implementing sustainable practices in their businesses, or providing sustainability-focused educational opportunities to university students.
VentureWell sat down with Dr. Robles recently to talk with her about her passion for sustainability, incubating the bright ideas of early-stage innovators, and her goals for the future. The following Q&A has been adapted from that interview.
How did your innovation and entrepreneurship journey start?
Back in 1998, I was the youngest woman director of a whole division for the Bank of Mexico. At the time, I noticed we were getting a different IT person every two months — so I started doing my research. They were leaving to do software development in the U.S., Canada, England — and while everyone was forecasting the end of the world (this was the Y2K era), I knew this was a business we needed to embark on. I thought, why aren’t we developing software?
In a way, I started my own venture by innovating. I didn’t know anything about how to start a business — but I partnered with an IT director of a company in San Diego, and we launched our own company with developers in Mexico City.
It was a great journey, because I know what it takes to be an entrepreneur. From the ideation to the launching stage and all the setbacks, I’m replicating those experiences in my classes and my entrepreneurship courses.
How did you “find” sustainability? Where did it all start?
My grandma taught me how to knit at an early age, and I learned to pick more sustainable materials to design my doll’s clothing and create furniture using natural materials (like mattresses for the cradles). She hosted the whole family in her house every Sunday, preparing food — delicious plant-based gorditas — with limited resources for unlimited attendees. My mom was also a visionary — she had a boutique startup, and I grew up learning that if I wanted new clothing, I had to prove I needed it and could afford it.
My conscious journey with sustainability started at age 17 in Newfoundland, Canada, during my international student exchange program. My Newfie dad wasn’t working in construction for a few months because the government banned cutting trees or fishing different species, yet my family was still financially covered.
In Mexico, that level of support was nonexistent. There, I couldn’t breathe the air because it was so polluted, and I couldn’t consume food and water due to contamination. When the government did nothing, I started a campaign with my high school classmates to collect resources to hand out in the poorest neighborhoods. I learned then that we needed to take care of the environment impacting the social and economic spheres because — at least in my hometown — nobody understood food scarcity, contamination, or waste separation.
What are some of the barriers to entrepreneurship that your students face, and how do you try to overcome them?
To begin with, UTRGV is a Hispanic-serving institution. About 60% of my students are Hispanic, and 65% are low-income. They have student loans and many are first-generation college students who can’t pay for tuition. So imagine how different the entrepreneurial ecosystem is for them — their parents aren’t innovators, they come from an agricultural background. That’s the reality here in South Texas. Many of my students aren’t thinking about starting a business when they can’t even pay for their food.
I don’t ask them to launch their own startups right away. I pair them with successful entrepreneurs so that students begin to think they can do this. That’s the first barrier: changing their mindset. Next, I push them to compete. With that money, they can pay for tuition, get textbooks, and buy gas, and that translates into more opportunities.
And I’m still supporting them — I adopt these companies for free, and I don’t lose them. I still connect these startups with grants, and I continue to give my expertise.
Can you tell us more about your work supporting students at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley?
I was in charge of launching the first incubator at UTRGV. Nobody believed in the design of my Adopt a Startup project model, but I backed it up based on my 15 years of experience working in the banking industry and closing deals through international business.
I created this program for my doctoral research, and I was able to implement this “triple helix” model through linking UTRGV with the government and small companies. I wanted to make it really practical for my students to have hands-on experience. In three years, we were able to adopt 80 companies and file for 47 trademarks and 4 patents.
How have you seen the effects of your work show up in the community? What change have you seen happen through your sustainability efforts?
I got to know the ecosystem and saw a need for startups that could help local businesses. That’s where I thought my Adopt a Startup program could really help.
In my teaching, I ask my students to think about the social and environmental impact of each project. Currently, we’re adopting food security projects and merging with agriculture to solve challenges in our community.
After taking and infusing sustainability into the curriculum course with VentureWell, I started modifying my classes. I realized I had to start from scratch and focus more on the ideation stage with my students. They needed to start thinking about sustainable design, so I created a seminar with Dr. Noe Vargas Hernandez (Assistant Professor at UTRGV), who teaches sustainable design in collaboration with my new venture class, where we invite speakers who talk about their own sustainability efforts.
Where do you see your work in the future?
I see myself helping other faculty around the nation and the world. I have the ambition to take our High Impact Sustainable Transdisciplinary Model to the next level. I want to see Adopt a Startup replicated and continue helping other faculty, students, and entrepreneurs to craft their entrepreneurial efforts.
I want to see our students continue being exposed internationally by adopting international companies and competing and presenting globally. I want to foster the local entrepreneurial ecosystem by networking and opening opportunities to the underserved. That’s my dream.
