Four women recently completed Venturing Forth, NVME’s comprehensive business planning class, and presented their business plans to friends and colleagues at UMA Robinson Hall in Augusta.

These entrepreneurs represent new restaurant, handmade jewelry, photography, and storage businesses that will launch across the state in the coming months:

• Cary J. Kerr – Marley’s Best Hugz Cafe & Montgomery Storage
• Salina Paktipat – FeatherStone Gifts
• Titi Balogun – Jollof & Spice
• Sally Lehtinen – Pawsitively Yours photography

Completing the class required 60 hours of business planning covering customers, competition, marketing, record keeping, taxes, financing, legal aspects of running a business, and much more.

Graduates are pictured here with NVME microenterprise specialists Destin DeCambre and Martha Leonard, who co-taught the class.

For information about business planning classes, The next Venturing Forth class starts online on Tuesday, August 26. An application, attendance at the orientation session, and an interview are required to attend the class. The application deadline is Friday, August 15 at 12:00 p.m. Review the class listing to learn more.

Venturing Forth is funded in part by the Maine Technology Institute.