Grant will support inland minority-owned businesses

The Inland Empire Center for Entrepreneurship (IECE) at Cal State San Bernardino has received a $65,000 grant from Wells Fargo to assist inland area small businesses.

The grant will support the Financial Fitness Program for Small Business Owners, Contracting Center and California Shop Small, which not only focus on financial management and achieving growth, but provide critical and targeted services to the minority-owned businesses located in the Inland Empire.

“The grant will help us address through targeted business counseling and training programs those key issues which were determined as a result of working directly with small business owners and a comprehensive survey with more than 1,400 small business responses,” said Mike Stull, IECE director and professor of entrepreneurship. “Ultimately this will help small businesses recover from the pandemic and grow to build sustainable resilience to navigate and survive future economic challenges.”

Overall, the goal of the IECE program is to support 150 small business owners and leverage the existing infrastructure, staff, faculty and funding support of the center and its primary business assistance programs such as the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) and Women’s Business Center (WBC).

The Inland Empire Center for Entrepreneurship at Cal State San Bernardino has been recognized by AACSB International as a Top 35 Global Program for fostering and supporting entrepreneurship and has supported more than 150,000 entrepreneurs since 1999, resulting in a regional economic impact of more than $400 million.