Seminar Offers Assistance To Small Business Owners

The El Paso Community College is gearing up for a seminar that can help small businesses. Instructors with the Small Business Development Center are taking applications now for the Small Business Management Institute are taking applicants now.

Businessman Francisco Orrantia, 27, can attest to how helpful and informative those classes can be. The vice president of Julio’s Cafe Corona says the SBDC and the SBMI are the reasons he has the Far East El Paso location.

Orrantia said he stumbled across the classes about five years ago, at a time when he needed help. His father had died, and Orrantia came back home from a job as an architect in Mexico to help run the family business.

“They gave me advice in management, some pointers in payroll and how to control costs,” Orrantia said. “(They also taught me about) sales forecasts and being on a budget.”

Orrantia said he learned from the institute how to apply for a loan to expand his business to the Far Eastside.

Virginia Price, CPA, gives Orrantia’s experience as an example of what other new and seasoned business owners can strive for as well.

“It’s all about them understanding that they have to prepare themselves,” Price said. “Also, that they are sure they’ve done everything they can and we help them with that. So they can succeed. So they can bring their dreams. It’s all about dreams.”

Registration is underway. It costs $375 and classes begin June 5.

For more information, call 915-831-7742.