Innovative New Course at MCC to Help Entrepreneurs Succeed

MERIDIAN – Mike Anderson must be doing something exciting at Meridian Community College (MCC).  Even his daughter is interested in his new “How to Start and Operate a Business” class.

“Eighty percent of all businesses in the United States are small businesses – the backbone of our nation’s economy,” said Anderson.  “To grow our economy, our nation must grow entrepreneurship.  I am excited about teaching this class and have even been able to interest my teenage daughter about starting her own business,” he added.

 “How to Start and Operate a Business” is referring to a new 10-week course that MCC will offer for potential and existing entrepreneurs beginning in September.

“It is our goal in Community and Business Development to offer this course as a way to better prepare those in our community interested in owning and operating their own business,” said Victoria Liddell, Community Development Facilitator for the WAEM Regional Initiative at MCC. “We want entrepreneurs to be successful and flourish.”

The innovative curriculum for this course comes from the Southern Entrepreneurship Program (SEP) developed by Dr. Brent Hales of the Trent Lott National Center of Excellence in Economic Development and Entrepreneurship at the University of Southern Mississippi. The MyBiz Entrepreneur Network, developed through the WAEM Regional Initiative, provided MCC and other community colleges the training and materials needed to implement this new program.  My Biz encourages communities to transform themselves into “enterprise- ready” communities and adopt entrepreneurship as an alternative economic development strategy. 

“Entrepreneurship should be taught in schools and colleges,” said Dr. Hales. “It is vital to expose students to business opportunities.  Too many brilliant business-minded young people are leaving the state; we have to train them to reverse that trend and increase opportunities for them to stay here.”

Anderson, MCC Economics Instructor, will teach the class.  Components of the curriculum include Characteristics of the Successful Entrepreneur, Selecting Your Business, Cost of Running a Business, as well as case studies and sample business plans. 

Anderson recently attended SEP’s Train-the-Trainer Institute at the University of Southern Mississippi.  The institute is designed to train community college personnel in the tactics, techniques, and strategies of training successful entrepreneurs.  This four day training enabled Anderson and others to experience the fundamentals of SEP and the MyBiz Entrepreneur Network.