Entrepreneur Project Wins Recognition

For the second year in a row, a program to teach Ventura County entrepreneurs better business skills and to create more local jobs has won national recognition.

The Ventura County Entrepreneur Academy has been chosen as a semifinalist in the competition for an Innovations in American Government award, offered by the Ford Foundation and Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. The award is given each year to government programs that find new, effective ways to meet public needs.

Only 100 of the 1,560 programs considered this year were named semifinalists. In December, contest organizers will pick 10 to 15 winning programs, each of which will receive a $100,000 grant.

Academy administrator Hui Ling Tanouye said her program, which puts local entrepreneurs through a 10-week crash course in running a business, made it to the semifinals last year but failed to reach the finals.

Should the academy win this year, she said, the grant would be used to train more business owners. The program’s goal, she said, is to create stable local businesses that, as they expand, can employ more Ventura County residents.

Tanouye seeks support from the county and local governments every year. This year, backers are the county and the cities of Ventura, Oxnard, Simi Valley and Port Hueneme.

“It’s such a struggle every year trying to come up with funding for the program,” she said. “So this would be a nice boost.”