Despite having a Ph.D. in Education, writing a business plan proved to be a daunting task. I spent 3 months writing a plan which never progressed beyond the introduction. I bought every piece of software and every book that I could find on writing business plans but wasn’t able to write a meaningful plan. After one meeting with the Women’s Business Center, I was able to write my plan within 2 weeks. Without their assistance I would still be writing my business plan rather than providing invaluable assistance to our elderly and disabled community members. Thanks in large part to the Women’s Business Center I was able to follow my dream of business ownership and each year my business has surpassed its goals by more than 20%.
Joan E. Roberts, Ph.D.
Owner, Visiting Angels,
Riverside County
Founded in 1999 by Dr. Pat McInturff, Dr. Jeanne King and Dr. Kuan Chen, the Inland Empire Center for Entrepreneurship (IECE) at California State University San Bernardino was established to advance the study and practice of entrepreneurship at the university and in the business community. On campus, IECE seeks to instill the entrepreneurial spirit in students and provides them with the practical skills, experience, and preparation to take advantage of entrepreneurial opportunities by offering numerous programs and activities on campus that help supplement the student’s classroom experiences. In the local community, IECE offers existing and aspiring entrepreneurs a wide array of business advisory and mentoring services, student internship and consulting resources, and entrepreneurial training programs that will help them achieve greater levels of success in their business ventures.
Run by a team of faculty and entrepreneurs, IECE plays a key coordinating role in the entrepreneurship program, implementing 12 new campus and community based programs and raising nearly $8 million in grant and sponsorship funds. In addition, IECE recently established a new, state of the art classroom developed specifically for the CSUSB entrepreneurship program that provides entrepreneurship students with the finest and most professional instructional facility at CSUSB.