After months of Covid-19 lockdown and social distancing, the Bermuda Economic Development Corporation is resuming its business courses.

Registration is now open for Entrepreneurship 101.

“Once the island went into lockdown as a result of Covid-19, BEDC was forced to postpone their regularly scheduled multi-week courses,” a BEDC spokesman said. “However, they were never set aside. The BEDC team went right to work figuring out how to best facilitate the courses in an online environment and have been working hard to adapt all programmes, which will now be facilitated through a virtual learning tool called GoToTraining.”

BEDC executive director Erica Smith said they recognised that now, more than ever, there is a desire for these types of entrepreneurial education programmes.

“More people are considering entrepreneurship and are looking for answers on where to start,” Ms Smith said. “It is important that we keep our programmes going, despite Covid-19. The more education we are able to provide, the better it will be for Bermuda’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.”

Entrepreneurship 101 provides new and aspiring entrepreneurs with the knowledge, tools and resources needed to start their businesses successfully. Participants can expect to walk away with an understanding of the basics of small business management and how to create an effective business plan.

The eight-week programme will run from June 16 to August 4, with a once a week session every Tuesday from 6pm to 8.30pm. The course will be facilitated by Ray Lambert, BEDC’s director of micro, small & medium enterprises.

Mr Lambert was excited to assist another round of entrepreneurs.

“When putting together the syllabus for this course, we kept in mind some of the major challenges faced by entrepreneurs on the island,” he said. “At BEDC, we meet with business owners on a regular basis, so I am aware of how difficult it can be to set up and operate a business in Bermuda. Entrepreneurship 101 is a great way to get a handle on the process.”

The course will cover topics such as making the decision to start a business, validating your product and service and writing a business plan. It will also look at understanding government obligations, knowing the cost of business, business funding and marketing, operations and human resources.

“Many of the aspiring entrepreneurs that come across our path at BEDC feel there is a general lack of ‘how to’ guidance and ‘A-Z’ resources at their disposal when first taking the leap into entrepreneurship,” Ms Smith said. “BEDC created this course specifically for those individuals, and strongly encourages anyone at the early stages of starting a business to sign up, attend each class and absorb as much knowledge as possible to set their business up for long term success.”

Past student, Vivien Carter encourages all aspiring entrepreneurs to invest in their learning and development by taking Entrepreneurship 101.

She said: “My advice to anyone looking to take this course is, regardless of whether you have a burning business idea, already have a start-up or are an emerging small business owner, this course has something to offer you. Between the live presenters who came in weekly to discuss various topics, as well as the other class content delivered, I felt that every session provided me with a wealth of new information.”

The cost of the course has been reduced by half and is now $137.50.

Register at www.bedc.bm.