VENTURA COUNTY BUSINESS : VENTURA COUNTY REVIEW : SCORE to Offer Series of Classes for Entrepreneurs

If members of the Service Corps of Retired Executives have one thing in common, it’s that they have made mistakes from time to time during their business careers. Plus, they want to help other executives avoid making those same routine errors.

As part of its outreach effort to a newer crop of entrepreneurs, the 30-member Ventura County chapter of SCORE will host a series of business development workshops beginning Sept. 18 at Oxnard College.

The five-course program, targeting small-business owners, will cover basics of starting and running a business. Classes will cover the development of business and marketing plans, financing, business insurance and global markets.

“This is information that is necessary for them to be knowledgeable entrepreneurs, so they know how to at least set up a business and how to make a profit,” said SCORE Chairman Leonard Weber, a retired businessman.

“The target audience is those people who are thinking about going into business and those entrepreneurs who are in business and not sure if their operation is going the way they want it to,” he said. “It’s also for those who want to familiarize themselves with aspects of business they don’t quite comprehend.”

SCORE, sponsored by the U.S. Small Business Administration, is a network of retired and working executives that offers counseling and seminars for small-business owners.

The Ventura County chapter is running the workshop in conjunction with the Oxnard College Economic & Community Development program, the Minority Business Development Center, and Oxnard College’s Entrepreneurial Academy.

Like the members of SCORE, workshop instructors also have firsthand business experience. Instructors for the eight-hour classes will include Rudy Guevara, a vice president with Los Robles Bank; Marv Fors, a former vice president of Hughes Corp.; and Rabia Yeaman, former owner of the Computer Training Center of Ventura County.

Weber said one of the critical areas to be covered will be the creation of marketing plans, something that is often overlooked by start-up business owners.

“Most people who go into business don’t really think about tomorrow--they don’t think in terms of profit, customer satisfaction, financing,” Weber said. “A business plan kind of helps people target, it enhances a person’s ability to focus on where they want to be, where they are going to be in three years, in five years.”

Workshop registration is $125 for the series or $30 for individual courses. Call 986-5831.