If starting a new business is high on your list of priorities, then attending the Northern Essex Community College Entrepreneurial Training Program (ETP) information session should be on your calendar. The information session, which reviews all aspects of the 20-week program designed for would-be-business people, is free and will be held on Tuesday, February 8, from 10:30-11:30 and Thursday, February 17, from 10:30a.m to 11:30a.m. at NECC Riverwalk, 360 Merrimack St., Bldg 9, Entrance K, Lawrence, MA.

The ETP is designed to assist students to prepare and implement a specific, comprehensive business plan tailored for their business and to provide the skills and knowledge with which to successfully implement that plan.

This intensive, comprehensive, non-credit, 20-week program covers all aspects of starting and operating a business. The curriculum includes sessions on market research, marketing tools, product/service differentiation, networking, sales techniques, presentation skills, financial management, as well as legal and insurance issues, human resources, time management, and more.

Instructor Paul Jermain of Jermain & Company combines intensive classroom work and guest presenters, as well as one-on-one consulting to assist each entrepreneur during the start-up phase of the business. Classroom training is followed by business plan presentations, independent work and 1:1 consulting to assist in implementing the business plan.

The next session will begin March 1, 2011. Please note all interested individuals must attend an information session, complete an application and interview for acceptance into the program.

This program is MA Section 30 approved. Some dislocated workers and others may be determined eligible by their career center to participate in the program at no cost; others may enroll for a fee.

Call Diane Zold-Gross at 978-659-1221 or email at dzoldgross@necc.mass.edu or Dianne (Dee) Lahaye at 978-659-1222 or email dlahaye@necc.mass.edu for details, directions, and to reserve your seat. You may also call Workforce Development and Community Education about this program and other non-credit courses and programs at 978-659-1200, or visit our website at: https://www.necc.mass.edu/noncredit
With campuses in Haverhill and Lawrence and extension sites in Andover and Methuen, Northern Essex Community College is a state-assisted college, offering over 70 associate degree and certificate programs as well as hundreds of non credit courses designed for personal enrichment and career growth. Close to 13,000 students ranging from recent high school graduates to workers employed locally attend classes days, evenings, and weekends. Northern Essex is the only state college located in the lower Merrimack Valley Region of Massachusetts.