The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and Shaw University are collaborating to help educate current and future small-business owners at the university and in the community.
This two-year partnership is one among the 59 projects the SBA plans to set up at historically black colleges and universities in the Southeast. It marks the first with North Carolina schools.
"If this country is to survive and do well, we have to make sure that our minority students do well, and that they are put in the limelight so they can do what we all know they can do," President Dorothy C. Yancy said.
The free program allows every school to create custom curriculum to develop entrepreneurial skills among prospective students and community members by providing access to SBA literature, programs, staff, mentors and other resources.
Cassius Butts, the SBA's Southeast Regional administrator, said that this program will bring together the community and about 400 business students interested in entrepreneurship.
Meanwhile, Shaw officials will develop the program during summer and open a small-business center on Blount Street, this fall, for both the students and the community.
Mma Kalu, chair of Shaw's Department of Business and Public Administration, said that the university doesn't offer an exclusive small-business program but includes related entrepreneur-centered classes.
Kalu also said that the program will help foster internship opportunities and students can gain some practical experience in the real world.
