Editor’s note: This is the first article for a new monthly section in the SCBJ that will feature entrepreneurs and various facets of entrepreneurship. Our goal is to provide useful information, contacts and resources for people starting or growing their own businesses.
When Jamie Curtismith, director of Everett Community College’s new School of Business Design, opened her first classes for business entrepreneurs last fall, it was similar to opening the rodeo chute at a bull-riding event. Since then, she has been hanging on for a whirlwind ride as the innovative program has gained momentum, national attention and an energy of its own.
In a recent interview with her, the Snohomish County Business Journal explored the uniqueness of the program and its goals.
SCBJ: How does the entrepreneurial program you created differ from usual courses in business schools?
Curtismith: This is the first community college entrepreneurial program of its type in the nation. It’s based on similar programs at a handful of leading colleges and universities, such as Stanford University’s Design School, but with its own unique features. For instance, with grants we’ve received, we’re able to provide loans to fund our students’ businesses. Teams of students are launching, growing and then liquidating their own businesses during the two-year program. The first businesses include boat cleaners, jewelry designing and landscaping. But, using their own business and marketing plans, they’re competing against others for that loan money.
SCBJ: What’s covered in your entrepreneurial program?
Curtismith: Hypothetical and theoretical approaches … have no part in the curriculum. Lessons are delivered through instructors but also through interaction with successful business owners, bankers and marketing experts, plus exploring the realm of innovation in business.
SCBJ: Who’s enrolled in the first classes?
Curtismith: We have 21 students going for a two-year associate degree in entrepreneurship. Their average age is 35, and the majority of them are women. Many of the students are transitioning from layoffs or downsizing by their employers.
SCBJ: What inspired you to create this program?
Curtismith: I’ve had my own businesses; I’ve been director of the Northwest Washington Women’s Business Center for assisting entrepreneurs; and I’ve set up programs at the college for small-business management. I believe most of the business material delivered in classes for people wanting to start their own enterprises is too obscure to be relevant. What they need is more useful information they can immediately apply to their businesses to make a positive difference. Even if they don’t continue with their own business, what they learn will make them more valuable and better-educated employees wherever they work. Most of all, we want them to learn how to think critically and strategically about their business, their products, their services and their markets.
SCBJ: What’s coming in the future?
Curtismith: We’re doing new things, including partnering with Marysville-Pilchuck High School, where there’s incredible demand from students who want to learn about entrepreneurism. We expect they will be earning college credits while they’re still in high school for monitoring our classes at the college. Also, I’m representing the college at a Massachusetts seminar this summer on entrepreneurial classes. We’re one of only six in the country selected to attend by the Kauffman Foundation, chosen for our very innovative programs.
More information is available at www.everettcc.edu/sbd or by calling Curtismith at 425-388-9243.
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