Irvine Chamber of Commerce Launches New Program for “Micropreneurs”
Irvine, CA
The Irvine Chamber of Commerce (irvinechamber.com) has launched a new program to support and encourage small scale entrepreneurs called “The Irvine Micropreneur Economic Development Program”. The Chamber defines Micropreneurs as small entrepreneurial businesses with five or fewer employees. Micropreneurs are a unique business segment because they encompass a very broad range of extremely diverse micro enterprises. They include home office based consultants, small manufacturing firms, Internet startups, services such as small legal firms, independent retail stores, and countless other micro businesses.
“We treat micropreneurs with the same respect we hold for our larger members,” said Chris Lynch, Vice President of the Irvine Chamber of Commerce. “While it's true that individually micropreneurs are only a small piece of our greater economy, when you take them as a group they have an enormous economic impact. They are also a very strong growth segment of our economy. We want to help micropreneurs receive the support that is not easy to find when you are working alone or in a very small group”.
The Micropreneur Economic Development Program will provide several core services to the micropreneur community. It will offer a social networking site specifically for micropreneurs to gather, share their expertise, and ask for help. In addition, the program will offer weekly webinars that provide brief discussions of topics important to micropreneurs along with direct mentoring and problem-solving help for attendees. There will also be special event webinars that go into greater details on key topics that feature guest speakers and presenters. Finally, the Irvine Chamber will host networking functions and get-togethers for participants in the program.
Many of the services provided by the program will be available for free to non-members and can be accessed outside of the Irvine area via the webinars. “We would like to encourage micropreneurs wherever they are located to think of Irvine as a strong center of support”, stated Chris Lynch. “We believe that one of the better ways to promote Irvine as a center for business opportunities is to demonstrate the kinds of support services we can provide through this program”.
The host for the Micropreneur Economic Development Program is Robert Coleman, President of the Pacific Venture Club, Robert has worked with entrepreneurs, startups, and small businesses for over twenty years. He has reviewed thousands of companies, helped to raise millions of dollars in venture capital for entrepreneurs, taught classes on entrepreneurial management, and conducted numerous interviews of thought leaders within the field of entrepreneuring. “I am very excited to be hosting this program”, stated Robert Coleman. “Running a business with only a handful of employees is a tremendous challenge. Many people don't realize how hard it can be to successfully manage even a one-person business. However, what is exciting to me is that micropreneurs can often change their fortunes literally overnight by learning the one piece of information that they were missing in their business process. I hope that the resources we provide with this program will provide the missing pieces to micropreneurs everywhere.”
To attend an upcoming free webinar, look for login information on the Pacific Venture Club website and on the Irvine Chamber of Commerce website.
