ENTREPRENEURSHIP CERTIFICATE - GENERAL

The Entrepreneurship Certificate is being offered in three different specializations: General Entrepreneurship, Tax Entrepreneurship and Real Estate Entrepreneurship.   Students must pass an assessment test at SBVC in order to qualify for these courses (a prerequisite).  This will verify a basic understanding of math, computer technology and English before taking the classes listed in the Certificate.  The certificate for General Entrepreneurship provides students with a foundation and understanding of the basics in starting a business – including building a Business Plan, where to obtain seed money, best practices in how to build a successful small business, managing a small business, how to properly market the new company to the demographics the new business will serve, the principles of selling their product or service, understanding how to generate financial information about the business, and the laws surrounding the corporation,employees and social concepts.

Contrary to popular belief, California is still the number one state for new business startups.  In the 2014-17 period,California added 51,835 companies (as reported by the Orange County Register from information provided by Dun & Bradstreet and American Express).  That is over a one percent gain.  The objective of this certificate is to help future and current entrepreneurs an opportunity to gain knowledge before jumping in with both feet.  Once the certificate is announced, we expect a lot of our business majors to add this certificate and a number of students who either already have a business or are contemplating starting one (usually around 20-30 per year) to add this certificate to their portfolio.

The goal of the Entrepreneurship Certificate is to prepare students to effectively start/run a small business.  Incompetence is the leading cause of small business failure – almost 50%of the small business failures. Entrepreneurs will start a business without any training, except for the knowledge they may have in the subject matter their business will provide.  Managing cash flow is so critical in a new business.  Without a well thought out Business Plan, new small business owners do not really know how much money it will take until the small business will reach the Break Even Point.   This program will not only provide knowledge on creating a comprehensive business plan, but how to execute on that business plan.  The student will be able to design and develop a comprehensive marketing plan by using appropriate marketing strategies.  Last, each student will understand how to compile and prepare accurate financial information for tax compliance and informed business decisions.

Courses listed above can be taken in any order.