College's new $10M home for entrepreneurs has bright future

Sandra Kauanui had already had two careers, one as a business owner and one in academia, when she moved with her husband to Southwest Florida in 2007. While not in full retirement mode, she didn’t plan on working too long when she took on a role launching an entrepreneurship program at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers.

Going on 15 years later, Kauanui remains with FGCU — now a fixture at the school, with her name on a building to prove it: the Daveler & Kauanui School of Entrepreneurship. After holding classes at an off-campus location for three years, the school, formerly the Institute for Entrepreneurship at FGCU, recently opened Lucas Hall, its new on-campus home. Lucas Hall also houses the school’s Small Business Development Center and FGCU’s Regional Economic Research Institute.