Entrepreneurship weeks will be celebrated with a week-long series of workshops and events for the St. Joseph community next week.

“Because we’re at the university we kind of had to work around some schedules so we created our own Entrepreneurship week and the date that kind of work for us,” said Annette Weeks, director of the Center for Entrepreneurship.

The Center for Entrepreneurship in the Craig School of Business at Missouri Western State University has partnered with American Family Insurance to offer Entrepreneurship Week, March 28-April 1. Entrepreneurship Week is targeted toward local business professionals, aspiring entrepreneurs, college students, high school students, and those curious about the skills needed to run a small business.

“I work year round one-on-one with businesses but I saw a lot of need for QuickBooks and a lot of need for how to write a business plan so we kind of decided we would put a few in the week and the week has kind of grown from there,” Weeks said. “The base of the week is free workshops for entrepreneurs and business owners.”

Business professors from multiple disciplines will offer small, personalized sessions at various times throughout the week. Examples of the sessions include “How to Write a Business Plan” with Annette Weeks, “Artists as Entrepreneurs” by Mike Lane and Bob Willenbrink, “QuickBooks for Beginners” and “Advanced QuickBooks” by James Adkins, “Social Media Tools for Small Businesses” by Hillary Mellema, “Protect Your Business Idea” by Susan Montee and “Using Excel for Beginners” by Peggy Lane. All of the sessions are open to the public and students. Walk-ins are welcome, but registration will help the speakers prepare materials and examples for the sessions.

For more information or to register for any of the events, call the Center for Entrepreneurship office at 816-271-4283 or email [email protected]. You can also visit the CFE website at CSB-CFE.missouriwestern.edu.