Houston Community College - 2019 PFEP College of Excellence Award Winner

We asked nominator, Maya Durnovo, Chief Entrepreneurial Initiatives Officer of HCC, how the college has demonstrated excellence in connecting with entrepreneurs in their community.

She told us about the following: 

1. The HCC-Minority Business Development Agency has connected minority owned businesses to $363 million in contracts and $395 million in financing...and created 850 new jobs!
2. The Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program has graduated 635 small businesses, 77% have grown in revenue and 56% have hired new employees.
3. HCC has three thriving Centers for Entrepreneurship. Each serves over 1,200 small businesses through workshops and seminars and also introduces HCC students to entrepreneurship. Thirty HCC students have started their own businesses.
4. The HCC-Annual Business Plan Competition provides training and mentoring to 25 teams of new and small business owners.
5. HCC provides training for women entrepreneurs to foster new women owned businesses and to grow women owned businesses.
6. HCC provides business training in Spanish and Mandarin for Hispanic and Asian Chambers of Commerce (learning is accelerated in one's own language!).
7. HCC has MOU's with Black Girls Code and Tech Pack to introduce young students to entrepreneurship and build a pipeline of access and opportunity for underserved populations; and an MOU with AARP to support the AARP "50+ Back to Work" program.
8. HCC offers entrepreneurial skills to Senior Citizens.
9. Maya Durnovo serves on the City of Houston Women & Minority Owned Business Task Force.

Demonstration of Excellence

• Download their 2018 Year in Review.
• HCC Women's Bootcamp Flyers 
  • English Version
  • Spanish Version

Photo Credit: HCC

Houston Community College, Entrepreneurial Initiatives/Center for Entrepreneurship at Southeast Campus hosted nearly 350 women at the Women’s Entrepreneurship Boot camp in both English and Spanish.