Photos and Thoughts From Our First Business Training Workshop!
Participants in the workshop pose with their graduation certificates!
Our innovative 5-part business training workshop—which teaches business basics such as profit and loss, budgeting and marketing—recently came to a close with a final class focusing on how to go green, both at home and through entrepreneurship. 15 Providence residents attended the course, 9 of whom attended all 5 classes and received certificates. We are thrilled with the results of the class. Students learned the essential skills needed for business, but were also taught basic financial literacy, including how to create a personal budget, understanding credit and how to calculate and compare interest rates. In addition, wherever possible the students learned how going green presents opportunities for saving and making money at home and in their businesses. Surveys conducted at the end of the course confirmed what we anecdotally knew: that it was a success! For example, 100% of the students would recommend the course to a friend, 87.5% would pay $50 or more for the course and 87.% would be interested in taking an advanced business course offered by us. Read on to learn about our plans moving forward.
Starting in February, this course will become the level one, or introductory, business training course that we offer. The level two, or advanced course, will be a slightly modified version of the course that the Intersect Fund—a highly-successful student driven MFI based in New Brunswick, New Jersey—has developed and used to train over 70 people so far. The course consists of 8 classes, 3 hours each, and is designed for people that are ready to start a business or are already in business. In contrast, our business basics course is designed for people that are interested in learning more about business and financial literacy so that they can get a feel for whether or not starting a business is right for them. By the end of the advanced course students will have an SBA-approved business plan and a thorough understand of everything they’ll need to know to launch and grow a successful business. In addition, they will have the requisite tools for making their businesses environmental friendly and for taking advantage of opportunities presented by the move toward green products and services.
We believe that offering microloans, together with two levels of business workshops, will ensure that we can serve our clients needs in a variety of ways. What’s more, because we will start charging for the courses, they will serve as a source of earned income for our organization, reducing our dependence on grants and making it easier for us to serve more people more effectively. Below are more photos from our first workshop.
Andy Posner posing with graduate Marlon Cifuentes
Andy Posner posing with graduate Oscar Vargas
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