While many new enterprises start from an idea for a new product or service, it takes hard core business skills to turn an idea into a successful and profitable company. Entrepreneurs need financial savvy, employee recruitment and retention knowledge, and marketing assistance for customer growth. This is why the City of Fremont is committed to educational programs that support entrepreneurs with a toolkit for success.

Every year, The City of Fremont and Fremont Chamber of Commerce send a survey to over 3,500 local business owners to identify topics of interest. 2015 results showed that the most important issues for businesses are customer attraction and retention, financial understanding, and hiring skilled employees.

Based on the results, the City of Fremont will be partnering with the Alameda County Small Business Development Center (Alameda County SBDC) to offer free business workshops that cover these topics and others over the next twelve months. The business workshops will be hosted by the Fremont Main Library, located on 2450 Stevenson Boulevard. Registration is free.

And if you haven’t heard or signed up already, next Wednesday, September 16th is the launch of the first East Bay chapter for Startup Grind. Manish Chandra, founder and CEO of Poshmark, is a local success story and will share his start-up history at the event held at DeVry University.

List of Business Workshops from September – November 2015

Successful Business Plans – This seminar is a building block for any small business owner or entrepreneur in search of a simple way to understand the fundamentals of writing an excellent business plan for their specific business.

Date: Wednesday, September 23, 2015 from 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Access to Capital for Small Businesses – This seminar is essential for any business owner interested in raising debt or equity financing. The workshop will include a panel discussion with financing experts.

Date: Wednesday, October 21, 2015 from 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Attracting and Retaining Employees for Your Business – This seminar is designed to give business owners ideas and best practices to help locate, attract, hire and retain the best employees.

Date: Monday, November 9, 2015 from 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.