About
Our Mission
This website and the Business Collaboration Training Tools Bundle were created with a double purpose mission:
Make it easier for entrepreneurs to understand the benefits and risks of entering into collaborative business relationships, whether informal or formal, short-term or long-term. The checklist format makes it easy to identify over 200 potential action items or tasks that may need to be considered before taking any final collaboration-related decision that may impact their company's future growth.
Find and connect with like-minded collaborators, such as business consultants, coaches, mentors, trainers, and public/private business development organizations interested in promoting the use of business collaboration agreements as a socio-economic growth tool in their communities and who are capable of assisting local entrepreneurs in the preparation of their company business collaboration manual or provide other needed relationship-building services.
Make it easier for entrepreneurs to understand the benefits and risks of entering into collaborative business relationships, whether informal or formal, short-term or long-term. The checklist format makes it easy to identify over 200 potential action items or tasks that may need to be considered before taking any final collaboration-related decision that may impact their company's future growth.
Find and connect with like-minded collaborators, such as business consultants, coaches, mentors, trainers, and public/private business development organizations interested in promoting the use of business collaboration agreements as a socio-economic growth tool in their communities and who are capable of assisting local entrepreneurs in the preparation of their company business collaboration manual or provide other needed relationship-building services.
Victor M. Rivera
Author's Credentials: Business Collaboration-Related Experience
Victor M. Rivera, the creator of the Business Collaboration Skills Training Program, has vast experience, many accomplishments, and recognitions for successfully managing economic and business development-related programs at the local, regional, national, and international levels. He has been a member of the Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals (ASAP) since 2013.
Victor was introduced to the concept of collaborative business relationships as a teenager when he worked in his father's grocery store in Brooklyn, NY. He witnessed firsthand how his father created alliances and cooperated with other businesses to reduce costs, increase security, and share information and experiences on how to better comply with city, state, and federal bureaucratic requirements.
He is mission-oriented and personally committed to promoting and supporting educational campaigns that can help spur more innovative collaborative/sharing initiatives, resulting in more locally sustainable economic growth.
Significant Accomplishments
At the U.S. Small Business Administration, he served as New York District Director and received the District Office of the Year Award. He was also the SBA Regional Administrator for the six-state Rocky Mountain Region (awarded the Regional Advocacy Award of the Year) and served four years as Senior Advocate at the Office of the Chief Counsel for Advocacy. Victor also served as the National Director at the Minority Business Development Agency/U.S. Department of Commerce.
Other Achievements
Victor was a past recipient of the distinguished Arthur S. Flemming Award as "One of the Ten Outstanding Young Men and Women in the Federal Service." The award mentioned his "demonstrated exceptional administrative talent, creativity, and willingness to innovate and the ability to motivate diverse groups of people to work together."
At the U.S. Agency for International Development (AID), he headed the Latin America and Caribbean Bureau and its 11 mission offices (which required U.S. Senate confirmation), where he administered a $1.5 billion budget.
The World Bank contracted him to prepare a study, "The World Bank and the Enterprise Development Process." His report noted that one of the critical tools of the enterprise development process was "public-private sector collaboration."
Among his achievements was serving as the Co-Principal Investigator at the National Science Foundation (NSF), Partnerships for Innovation (PFI) Grant awarded to the University of Puerto Rico.
At the U.S. Agency for International Development (AID), he headed the Latin America and Caribbean Bureau and its 11 mission offices (which required U.S. Senate confirmation), where he administered a $1.5 billion budget.
The World Bank contracted him to prepare a study, "The World Bank and the Enterprise Development Process." His report noted that one of the critical tools of the enterprise development process was "public-private sector collaboration."
Among his achievements was serving as the Co-Principal Investigator at the National Science Foundation (NSF), Partnerships for Innovation (PFI) Grant awarded to the University of Puerto Rico.
Americas Competitiveness Exchange on Innovation and Entrepreneurship
In 2019, while a consultant at the Puerto Rico Department of Economic Development and Commerce, he helped coordinate with officials from the Organization of American States (OAS), U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Department of State and others, the hosting in Puerto Rico of a weeklong conference: Americas Competitiveness Exchange on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (ACE).
The ACE is a flagship OAS program designed to help connect decision-makers from the Americas to secure international and regional partnerships. Over 80 persons from 22 countries participated in the event, and dozens of concrete collaborative agreements were reported.
The ACE is a flagship OAS program designed to help connect decision-makers from the Americas to secure international and regional partnerships. Over 80 persons from 22 countries participated in the event, and dozens of concrete collaborative agreements were reported.
Publications
Victor has posted numerous articles on business collaboration and has previously published an e-book, Strategic Business Collaboration.
Lourdes Aponte-Rosario
Principal Collaborator Credentials: Business Marketing/Outreach Experience
Lourdes Aponte-Rosario has over 25 years of experience as an editor, corporate communications consultant, and, more recently, a digital marketing professional. She is a social media coach for X (formerly Twitter) and LinkedIn and produces infographics.
She served as a moderator in radio programs and authored many newspaper and magazine articles advocating the need to promote and support the establishment of more prominent women-owned businesses.
Lourdes has made numerous presentations at business conferences in the United States, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Panama, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, promoting the use of the Internet as a facilitator of worldwide commerce. Her outreach has helped forge business alliances and increased trade among businesswomen in these geographic areas.
She served as a moderator in radio programs and authored many newspaper and magazine articles advocating the need to promote and support the establishment of more prominent women-owned businesses.
Lourdes has made numerous presentations at business conferences in the United States, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Panama, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, promoting the use of the Internet as a facilitator of worldwide commerce. Her outreach has helped forge business alliances and increased trade among businesswomen in these geographic areas.
Awards
Lourdes is a recipient of the prestigious U.S. Small Business Administration Women in Business National Champion Award, among many other recognitions/awards.