(Credit: City of Austin)
The City of Austin Small Business Program partners with The University of Texas Center at Austin for Professional Education (UT CPE) to provide business skills classes to local small business owners and their employees. The classes cover critical topics ranging from Small Business Accounting, Marketing Essentials, and Small Business Recordkeeping to Social Media Best Practices and Human Resources Basics.
“We have identified through feedback by the Small Business Community the basic skillsets needed to successfully operate a small business and offer those classes regularly and at a reasonable cost,” said Vicky Valdez, Division Manager for the Small Business Program. “We offer these classes to help build skills so small business owners are equipped to have a successful business.”
Austin is known as a great place to start a small business because of resources available to assist small business owners. According to the AtoZ Databases, approximately 93{41b94ed60641855d30e715a04518d04419c2f56ef405d11541f9f93e1967c2b2} of all businesses in Austin are small businesses with fewer than 100 employees. It is for this population that the classes are designed.
Participants who complete six UT CPE classes will earn a Business Skills Certification and will be honored during an Austin City Council meeting and reception in February 2019 at Austin City Hall.
“We are proud to work with the City of Austin to provide these classes to Austin’s local small businesses,” said Liliya Spinazzola, Director of UT CPE. “It is important we provide the necessary support through education to help businesses and their employees grohttp://www.SmallBizAustin.orgw to the next stage.”
Since the program began in 2009, more than 150 graduates have received their Business Skills Certification.
For a schedule of upcoming classes and registration information, visit www.SmallBizAustin.org.
