We’ve had a long history of supporting small businesses in our community: our annual Health & Wealth Expo, our Small Business Crawl and our monthly Sorors’ Night Out event, to name a few. Now we’re partnering with Community Board 16 Economic Development Committee to offer another innovative program, the Entrepreneur Bootcamp. The bootcamp is a three-part series that gives current and aspiring entrepreneurs strategies and resources to help them create a stellar business plan.
On February 28, we gathered at the Oasis Beacon Community Center at PS/IS 323 for a Session 1, a full day of business workshops that focused three topics:
- Ten Steps to Starting your own Business
- Legal Structures
- Business Plan Writing Fundamentals
Some amazing presenters led the workshops – Chantal Lawrence of NYC Business Solutions; Mark Tamoshunas, owner of The Law Offices of Mark Tamoshunas; and our chapter’s very own 2nd Vice President, Soror Gina Russell-Stevens of Executive Performance LLC.
“This program was very helpful in helping me hone in on a specific demographic.”
Session 1 was intense, but productive and the 16 entrepreneurs who braved the cold learned a lot. In fact, because of the Legal Structures presentation, one entrepreneur learned that her business could still be created as a for-profit entity, even though she saw her work as a public benefit.
In addition to the great information we got during the day, Principal Nadia Lopez, who was recently featured on PBS and Humans of New York for her phenomenal work with her students, also stopped by during the workshops to show her support and listen in.
Session 2, Business Plan Review & Pitch Day Preparation, takes place on Saturday, March 21.