15 Entrepreneurs to Graduate MicroEnterprise Institute

FORT MYERS, Fla. - June 20, 2014 - PRLog -- On June 25, 15 aspiring entrepreneurs will be closer to starting their own small businesses after completing the Goodwill MicroEnterprise course. The graduation ceremony will take place at 6:30 p.m. at the Southwest Florida Enterprise Center (3903 Dr. Martin Luther King Blvd., Fort Myers).

The Goodwill Southwest Florida MicroEnterprise Institute is a training program to help emerging entrepreneurs start new ventures and grow small businesses. Graduates complete a 12-module business and management training course over six weeks, and work with mentors who are successful businesspersons.  Mentors for the recent session were David Burns, Tonya Farina, and Rob Mang. The class facilitator was Jim Wallert.

Graduating the course will be Jimmy Cochran, Samuel De La Rosa, Stephanie Estrella, Janelle Faison, Andrew Gesell, Kia Glimps-Smith, Anthony Jackson, Sharon Makowski, Deborah Newton, Tammy Rawson, Megzie Russell-Hamilton, Teresa Sankey, Ronald Stout, Mirna Valiente, and Carol Womble.

Delivering the commencement speech will be Pam Oakes, owner of Pam’s Motor City Tire and Auto Center. Through her automotive talents she has created the auto manual Car Care for the Clueless and a nationally syndicated radio segment that reaches 10 million daily across 60 U.S. stations. Oakes was awarded SBA Small Business of the Year, and was named the News-Press’ “Best Auto Repair” in 1996, and 1998-2013 in the “Best of Southwest Florida” reader’s poll.

The Goodwill Southwest Florida MicroEnterprise Institute is administrated by Goodwill Industries of Southwest Florida, Inc. and is part of Goodwill’s mission to provide life-changing opportunities to people with disabilities and disadvantages to achieve independence. To learn more about the SWFL MicroEnterprise Institute, please visit www.goodwillswfl.org/microenterprise or (239) 995-2106 ext. 2219.

For more information about Goodwill Industries of Southwest Florida, visit www.goodwillswfl.org.

-30-