For Jiale Tu, entrepreneurship isn’t just a career path – it’s a family legacy. Her mother spent decades in China’s denim industry, working her way out of poverty through sheer resilience. Today, Tu is honoring that history while building a future in sustainable fashion with her brand, Jalet Denim.
Tu is one of 40 founders in the inaugural cohort of Build Up, a new entrepreneurship program at Miami Dade College’s Idea Center. Launched in partnership with the University of Notre Dame’s Urban Poverty and Business Initiative, the program is designed to turn the entrepreneurial dreams of local residents into sustainable engines of economic mobility.
“My mother entered the denim industry because she saw an opportunity and acted on it,” Tu said. “Build Up gave me a community of fellow founders, a strong business foundation, and the inspiration to build a purpose-driven brand.”
While Build Up is new to Miami, its DNA is global. The program utilizes a proven 80-step model developed by Dr. Michael Morris at Notre Dame’s McKenna Center, which has already helped over 3,000 entrepreneurs in more than 60 cities. The initiative arrived at MDC through support from The Coca-Cola Company, which is investing in community growth ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2026.
“Through Build Up, we are ensuring that aspiring founders – many launching businesses to solve real challenges in their communities – have the guidance, confidence and connections to transform their ideas into engines of opportunity,” said Jorge H. Gonzalez, Executive Director of The Idea Center, in a statement.
The program stands out for its intensive, nearly year-long commitment. Unlike short-term workshops, Build Up provides a structured three-phase pipeline. That would be a six-week intensive bootcamp focused on business fundamentals, then four months of one-on-one guidance from seasoned business leaders, and ending with four months of collaboration with MDC student teams.
This final stage is a win-win for the college. Students in a capstone bachelor’s degree class serve as consultants, supervised by a faculty member, to help founders with deliverables like financial tracking systems, marketing plans, and market research.
“It is personalized support,” explained Jorge I. Guillen, the Idea Center’s Small Business Program Manager, in an interview with Refresh Miami. “Entrepreneurship is a journey – it’s not a thing that you accomplish in a few weeks or in a couple of months. We understand that with this program, and that’s why this is almost a full year of engagement.”
Guillen noted that the current cohort is a mix of about 40% MDC students and about 60% community members, all of whom become MDC students while in the program so they can access college resources.
“We’re very open to anyone who has a dream but hasn’t been able to get the support that they need,” Guillen said. “We’re interested in having a mix – people who are starting from scratch just with a business idea and people who are already selling something but aren’t doing great and need to refine the business that they have.”
Jorge I. Guillen, Small Business Manager of Miami Dade College’s Idea Center. Shown at the top of this post is Build Up Cohort 1’s bootcamp in action.
For those who have already moved past the initial stages and are generating significant revenue, The Idea Center offers a separate Scale Up program.
The new Build Up program, free to participants, is already growing. While the first cohort launched at the Meek Center in Liberty City, and members are continuing their work with mentors and consultants, a second cohort of 30 entrepreneurs is set to launch today at MDC’s Homestead Campus. In future years, Build Up plans to launch more cohorts at different MDC campuses to help ensure geographic equity across Miami-Dade County.
For Guillen, the program’s success will be defined by long-term sustainability. If, after the program ends, at least 80% of [cohort members] can live on the profits that they make from their businesses, “that would be success,” he says.
Cohort 1 participants, who have completed the bootcamp portion but are still just halfway through the entire program, say they’ve already found the program to be beneficial.
“If you’ve never launched a business, you just don’t know what you don’t know,” says Billy Jean Louis, one of the participants. “Build Up gave me the marketing skills, budgeting tools, and confidence I was missing. But even more importantly, it gave me a community of ambitious, mission-driven peers.”
As for Jiale Tu, the program has already delivered. After 30 hours of training and dozens of customer interviews, Jalet Denim has secured its first two clients and three pilot collaborations.
Says Tu: “What began as a personal idea is now a business with real customers and a clear path forward.”
Find out more about Build Up here.
Entrepreneu Jiale Tu, with Build Up leaders, holds her completion certificate for Build Up’s bootcamp.
READ MORE IN REFRESH MIAMI:
I am a writer and editor with extensive media experience and a passion for journalism and serving the community. Most of my career has been spent with the Miami Herald in business news, and my expertise is writing about tech and entrepreneurs. I love hosting this blog for Refresh Miami and we aim to be the go-to site for South Florida startup and tech news, features and views. Have news? Contact me at [email protected]. Thanks for reading! Latest posts by Nancy Dahlberg (see all)