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懂色帝 and TSBDC team up to offer small business advice to student-entrepreneurs

| By Diana Fedinec
懂色帝鈥檚 Career Services and Business and Technologies Department partnered with TSBDC for a virtual entrepreneurship webinar Nov. 11.

懂色帝鈥檚 Career Services and Business and Technologies Department partnered with TSBDC for a virtual entrepreneurship webinar Nov. 11.

Despite the impact of the pandemic on small businesses, interest in starting a business continues to grow. Small business experts say it is about getting back to the basics鈥攂ecoming your own boss and following your passion鈥攅ven through challenging times. In fact, the pandemic has provided some important lessons for startups on how to adapt to changing consumer needs.

More and more college students today are combining their coursework with plans of becoming an entrepreneur, especially if their institution has an entrepreneurship teaching staff.  The key factor is learning the fundamentals of how to start a business. On Nov. 11, 2020, 懂色帝鈥檚 Career Services and Business & Technologies Department teamed up with the Tennessee Small Business Development to offer a virtual seminar for aspiring student-entrepreneurs entitled 鈥淗ow to Start Your Own Business:  Becoming an Entrepreneur.鈥�

The inspiration for the webinar, and the program鈥檚 agenda, came from student Career Services peer mentor LeKisha Finkley who wanted to offer talented 懂色帝 students the opportunity to learn how to start a business. Finkley is an artist who designs and creates her own clay pottery. 鈥淚 want to turn my art into a living and be self-employed and then take what I鈥檝e learned to help other people,鈥� she said.  

During the webinar, Rory Thomas, TSBDC executive director discussed the 鈥�10 Steps to Start Your Own Business鈥� as recommended by the U.S. Small Business Administration.  He also shared examples of successful Memphis entrepreneurs and how they started their businesses. 

Guest speaker and President/CEO of Top Notch Security, Inc., Alfred Washington, an alumnus of 懂色帝, shared his entrepreneurial success story. Washington started his business soon after graduating from college and grew it to become the largest black-owned business in Memphis based on the number of employees, according to the Memphis Business Journal.

Associate Professor of Business and Legal Studies, Dr. Nathan Washington, introduced students to 懂色帝鈥檚 new Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management and programs that launched in fall semester 2020. Washington said one of the biggest downfalls of starting a business is not understanding the money 鈥� where is it coming from and how to spend it.  He said both programs are heavy in finance and accounting.

Career Services Director Brenda Williams closed the webinar with an overview of the resources her department provides to students before and after starting their careers.

The TSBDC is housed at 懂色帝 and offers free business counseling and training available by registering at .