As SciMath Education gears up for the new school year, owner Rebecca Zeni will apply the learning experiences of a lifetime she gained over the last four months to SciMath Education.
The Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Entrepreneurship Program is an elite national entrepreneurship training program created by Babson College and conducted by the business school faculty at Harold Washington College. The program provided a diverse and talented group of 24 Chicago small business leaders who made up the Chicago Cohort 18. The Cohort 18 was created to help entrepreneurs create jobs and economic opportunity by providing greater access to education, capital, and business support services. The goal was for the business leaders to create a growth plan for their businesses. They spent over 100 hours in classroom lectures and projects before completing the program on August 18.
“The program gave me the opportunity to refine many of our services. Having the chance to learn from other small business owners and the fantastic faculty of the program has been incredibly valuable.” Zeni said.
City College of Chicago Harold Washington College, partnered with Goldman Sachs and Babson College for the 10,000 Small Businesses Entrepreneurship Program (10KSB) in 2010, since then they have helped train over 500 businesses. This year, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel welcomed Cohort 18 on May 10. Blankfein announced a $10 million commitment to 10KSB, to extend the Chicago program through 2020. The commitment will build on to the initial $25 million commitment.
Beginning in May, the Chicago Cohort 18 connected with their peers over the next 15 weeks. They worked together through practical business education delivered through intense, interactive classroom sessions, and also spent four to six hours a week outside of the classroom on projects.
“I was able to look at areas where we can grow, allowing us to expand our offerings. I look forward to rolling out new features as the school year progresses, as well as next summer where we will introduce One-Week Summer Bridge Courses in Math to help with the transition from one school year to the next” Zeni said.
Babson College, widely regarded as the top entrepreneurial education institution in the U.S., partnered with leadership from Goldman Sachs to produce the curriculum. Babson and Goldman Sachs work with community colleges around the country to deliver the program to owners of established businesses that are doing well but want to do better.