National Entrepreneur Center Grand Opening

Formerly known as the Disney Entrepreneur Center, the newly-named National Entrepreneur Center will open its doors this week at a new home in Orlando Fashion Square on Colonial Drive in Orlando.




"We are attracting national recognition and international attention so the new name reflects the direction that our center is moving. Our goal is to become a national model for communities to follow when pursuing small business development," said Jerry Ross, Executive Director for the National Entrepreneur Center. "At the same time, here locally we have a new location that provides free parking and much easier access for all of our Central Florida clients."




The National Entrepreneur Center is committed to fostering the spark of a new business idea, supporting business growth, and providing resources to small and medium-sized business in Central Florida. The Central Florida business community continues to provide strong support to the Center.




Construction on the National Entrepreneur Center's 22,000 square foot facility at the mall is nearly complete, with an opening date set for April 25 and official grand opening slated for May 17. The National Entrepreneur Center provides a single location that houses a variety of independent organizations that provide small businesses with resources, technology, and assistance, including:


■Free One-on-One Business Coaching
■Low-Cost Seminars
■Networking Events
■Access to Software Tools and Business Resources
■Certification assistance for Minority Owned Businesses
■Connections to Procurement Opportunities
■Publicity Opportunities

The National Entrepreneur Center is home to several on-site service providers dedicated to helping clients and their businesses, including the Hispanic Business Initiative Fund (HBIF), Orange County Government, SCORE - Counselors to America's Small Business, the Small Business Development Center at UCF, the UCF Business Incubation Program (UCFBIP) and the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The Center also hosts on-site community partners that include the African American Chamber of Commerce, the British American Chamber of Commerce of Central Florida, the Central Florida Disability Chamber, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Metro Orlando, the National Association of Women Business Owners -- Orlando (NAWBO) and the Central Florida Chapter of the National Black MBA Association. Since its founding in 2003, the Center and its six service providers have seen more than $125 million in loans facilitated, coached 70,000 businesses and assisted in over 700 new business start-ups.

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