By Geydy Martinez
This semester Assistant Professor of Management, Cynthia Sherman Ph.D. will take a seat as the new director of the Entrepreneurship & Small Business Institute (ESBI). ESBI is an entity on campus that is geared towards helping students of varying majors learn more about entrepreneurship.
“I’m excited to talk with students,” said Sherman. ”And for students to learn about entrepreneurship and not think that it’s something too scary to do.”
As the new director, Sherman has several goals including promoting creativity, and innovation within the university, building strong connections with local community businesses and promoting financial literacy within the university.
Although the semester just started, there are multiple events coming up.
On February 2, ESBI will hold the STEM Innovation Challenge. The event brings middle school girls to CI to learn about a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) challenge and create a prototype to illustrate their idea. It is designed to connect young girls with female STEM students and professionals.
On March 15, entries for the Elevator Pitch competition will be due. The top 10 pitch teams will then be invited to a live pitch event on April 5 in the Smith Decision Center across from Sage Hall to pitch their ideas to a panel of local entrepreneurs from Ventura County. Cash prizes will be awarded to the top three teams.
Finally, in the coming months the ESBI plans to hold financial literacy workshops to help students gain financial knowledge. The ESBI encourages students to take their survey so that they can gather data about specific skill students are interested in. For more information go to ESBI website on the CSUCI webpage.
“Truly, if anyone has an idea or a need for resources for starting a business, we’re interested in helping.”
