The new Entrepreneurs Center opened its doors during a two-day open house event on Feb. 24 and 25 in Room 137 of the Old Administration Building.
A presentation by Saul Huicer, vice president of Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization [CEO] club created an encouraging environment for the students who attended the opening.
“You need to find out what your strengths are, what you need to improve; you need to find out anything that will get you over the hill,” he said.
The Entrepreneurs Center resulted from years of planning by the business division of Fresno City College.
Although located on the FCC campus, the center welcomes both students and members of the community can take advantage of the opportunity to expand their entrepreneurship and financial skills.
The Entrepreneurs Center is scheduled to create programs, provide mentors and hold approximately 20 workshops from spring 2015 to spring 2016 and be a place where entrepreneurs can generate ideas, network and grow.
Mentors will help students create a goal, plan how to achieve that goal, launch their business and possibly have a chance to run their student business outside of the Entrepreneurs Center.
“I encourage you to set up every goal. If you feel like you ever need improvement, set a goal and start handling it,” Huicer said.
Huicer will help students during the workshops every third Wednesday of each month.
The focus of the workshops will be on time management, creating a mindset, communication and more.
The new center will have an entrepreneur guest speaker on every second Wednesday of each month. The speaker will be sharing how they turned their idea into an ongoing business.
“This is the place where they [students] can pick up the tools and skills to achieve their dreams,” says Marianne Dunklin, CEO club adviser.
The center will also provide students with business books, computers and a meeting area to help expand student business.
Dunklin hopes the center acquires a 3-D printer so students can create prototypes of their products.
The Entrepreneurs Center will hold its official open house for advisory committees in April and another for students during the fall.
The Entrepreneurs Center does not have set office hours yet, but Dunklin will be using her office hours on Mondays and Wednesdays from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. to aid students.
“Students let their imagination go, let their dream grow,” she said, “and then create a map to achieve that.”
