Entrepreneurship Center helps new businesses enter the marketplace

The Inland Empire Center for Entrepreneurship’s (IECE) newest initiative, the Entrepreneurial Resource Center (ERC), recently launched an innovative program that prepares small business owners to develop, showcase and sell their products in a marketplace setting. The program, delivered at the ERC and powered by the IECE’s top business assistance programs the Women’s Business Center (WBC) and the Inland Empire Small Business Development Center (SBDC), focused on training and counseling the businesses to make their first sales during the Holiday Small Business Market held by the City of Temecula on Saturday, November 30.

From concept ideation to permitting, both the SBDC, Ready, Set, Retail! and WBC, Thriving at the Marketplace, programs acted as vital training for local business owners who offer retail products and are interested in participating in outdoor market settings. These programs prepared more than 70 individuals to establish their retail or food-based businesses to go to market. As an additional component of the programs, participants were offered the opportunity to apply for the City of Temecula Holiday Small Business Market. The top 20 graduates of these programs will be chosen to showcase their businesses, at no cost to them, at the holiday market.

“Entrepreneurship is the lifeblood of the Inland Empire economy,” said Mike Stull, Director of the Inland Empire Center for Entrepreneurship. “Not only did these programs equip entrepreneurs with the tools needed to become part of the retail industry, but they also removed the financial barriers that may prohibit a new organization from taking that next step.”

The City of Temecula’s Holiday Small Business Market will take place on Small Business Saturday, November 30 from 2:00 to 6:00 p.m. in Old Town Temecula Front & Main Streets. For more information visit the Temecula Valley Chamber of Commerce website.