Entrepreneurial Experience program (Santander Bank Grant)

Entrepreneurial Experience program (Santander Bank Grant) is sponsored by Santander Bank (via New Jersey Institute of Technology). This program supports student entrepreneurs through coursework, mentorship, experiential learning, and opportunities to develop their own ventures.

NJIT Expands Student Entrepreneurship Through Santander Bank Grant | NJIT News NJIT Expands Student Entrepreneurship Through Santander Bank Grant New support for the university’s entrepreneurial ecosystem will help student entrepreneurs serve as peer mentors and pursue startup-focused experiential opportunities.

New Jersey Institute of Technology is expanding student entrepreneurship through a grant from Santander Bank that supports the university’s Entrepreneurial Experience program, a Center for Student Entrepreneurship initiative that connects students with coursework, mentorship, experiential learning and opportunities to develop ventures of their own.

The grant support will help fund students serving as Peer Entrepreneurs in Residence (PEIRs) — students who have participated in the Entrepreneurial Experience and now help mentor other NJIT students as they explore entrepreneurship, while continuing to build on entrepreneurial work of their own. The support also includes stipends for students undertaking internships with community-based startups.

“At Santander, our commitment to education, entrepreneurship and employability is grounded in creating pathways to opportunity,” said Angela Moultire, Region President, Santander Bank, N. A. “By supporting programs like NJIT’s Entrepreneurial Experience, we’re helping equip students with the tools, mentorship, and real-world opportunities to develop ventures that can drive meaningful impact in their communities.

” The Entrepreneurial Experience is a holistic model for helping students develop entrepreneurial skills through classes, pitch competitions, mentorship from entrepreneurs and real-world startup engagement. Within that structure, PEIRs serve as student-facing guides, helping newer participants navigate the program while offering perspectives drawn from their own ventures and entrepreneurial experience.

The grant builds on a broader entrepreneurship ecosystem that NJIT has been expanding in recent years. The university’s Center for Student Entrepreneurship , launched in 2024, was created to centralize and increase access and participation in entrepreneurial efforts and learning.

The center’s emphasis on undergraduates would expand hands-on opportunities through the Entrepreneurial Experience, including startup internships, entrepreneurship coursework that can count toward majors, and participation in pitch events and showcases. “There's something quite powerful about peer-to-peer inspiration,” said Kathy Naasz, executive director of student entrepreneurship.

“When students see other students innovating and launching startups, it ignites an entrepreneurial mindset in a way that feels relatable and real; it shows them that it is possible. ” NJIT has framed that work as part of a larger and increasingly visible entrepreneurship effort across the university. NJIT has invested $10.

4 million in student startups in the past five years and offers 32 courses in entrepreneurship. The site also points students to a range of entry points, including taking an entrepreneurship course, launching a startup, participating in a pitch competition and securing a startup internship. That broader momentum has also been reflected in recent recognition.

The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur ranked NJIT No. 19 for graduate entrepreneurship study and No. 33 for undergraduate entrepreneurship, with NJIT also described as No. 1 in New Jersey for undergraduate entrepreneurship for the fifth time and No. 1 for graduate entrepreneurship for the third consecutive year.

NJIT attributed part of that rise to the first full year of operation of the Center for Student Entrepreneurship and to the wider entrepreneurial ecosystem around it, where PEIRS will be housed. NJIT has also been tying entrepreneurship more directly to emerging fields and applied problem-solving.

In the university’s inaugural Artificial Intelligence Exploration Day in March 2026, NJIT featured entrepreneurship-focused presentations from Martin Tuchman School of Management faculty and students, including work on AI and entrepreneurial mindsets, startup strategy and business applications of AI. Students selected through the initiative are known as Santander Entrepreneurial Scholars.

The selected students are: Christian Garcia, electrical and computer engineering technology Jean Paul Guerdy, mechanical engineering Santiago Garcia, electrical engineering Favio Valentino Jasso, web and information systems Ojas Purandare, business information systems Anne Therese Argonza, data science and statistics Vidhi Shah, financial technology Mustafa Anil Orak, financial technology Together, the cohort reflects the range of entrepreneurial activity taking shape across NJIT, with students representing engineering, computing, business and data-centered disciplines.

In NJIT’s reporting on the program, the selected students’ ventures and interests span areas including AI-enabled systems, greenhouse automation, software development and student wellness. Faculty & Staff Resources