COUNTYWIDE : 12 Soviets Arrive for Business Course
Twelve Soviet entrepreneurs arrived in Ventura County over the weekend to begin a month of management training with local businesses.
The 12 were welcomed Tuesday at a lunch hosted by Ventura County National Bank in Oxnard. They are participants in the Enterprise Development Program, created last year by the Center for United States-Soviet Initiatives in San Francisco.
The program aims to give Soviet business people firsthand knowledge of capitalism by allowing them to work shoulder to shoulder with Ventura County business counterparts. During their stay, they will live in the homes of their hosts.
The businesses hosting the 12 visitors include retail stores, construction and architectural firms, a law firm, a bank, a real estate company, a school, a car dealership and a travel agency. An additional two Soviets were placed with businesses in Santa Barbara County.
The monthlong exchange is part of a three-year plan by the program to transfer small-business management skills to the Soviet private sector as the former centralized economy shifts toward a free-market economy.
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