By Meredith Gardner
meredith.gardner@theindependent.com

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Independent/Barrett Stinson After taking two courses from Central Community College¹s entrepreneurship program, Jackie Fitzgerald (right) went on to open a Godfather¹s Pizza franchise in Kenesaw. Fitzgerald talks to John Kennedy, 19, who works at the restaurant, and his brother, Mark Kennedy, 16, while the two boys eat a pizza. Independent/Barrett Stinson Jackie Fitzgerald¹s sister, Renee Morganflash, who plays a big role in operating the family¹s Godfather¹s Pizza franchise in Kenesaw with her sister, makes an individual pizza in the restaurant. The restaurant, which also features ice cream, was created by Fitzgerald to be a place for kids and families to hang out after school and work. Independent/Barrett Stinson The Godfather¹s Pizza in operated by Jackie Fitzgerald is located in Kenesaw at 304 N. Smith Ave. Click Thumbnails to View

It was time to start her own business.

With the investment and encouragement of her stepfather, Fitzgerald moved forward with plans to create a place for kids and families to hang out after school and work a combination pizza/ice cream restaurant.

But before hanging her "open" sign on the Godfather's Pizza franchise she now runs with her sister, the 37-year-old Fitzgerald went to school to learn how to successfully start her own business.

Along with some business and accounting classes, she took two courses from Central Community College's entrepreneurship certificate program, a 12-credit training program that helps students develop their entrepreneurial ideas and create a business plan.

Fitzgerald credits her instructor, CCC-Hastings instructor Laura Bulas, with preparing her for the challenges of running a restaurant in small-town Central Nebraska.

"It just opens your eyes a lot more," Fitzgerald said.

The program was started as part of a statewide community college effort to bring an entrepreneurial spirit into Nebraska's communities, said Gene Manhart, business instructor at the college's Grand Island campus.

"Entrepreneurship is very important to the vitality of our economy," he said.

While CCC advertises its entrepreneurship program as one that can help students attain self-employment, enrollment has been slow going, Manhart said.

The courses have been available for a year and a half, but no one has completed the entire 18-hour certificate program, which originally included six, three-credit-hour classes: Introduction to Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurial Opportunity Analysis, Marketing for the Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship Legal Issues, Taxes and Financial Topics, and a Business Plan course.

"By the time you're through, you have a formal business plan you can take to the bank, so to speak," Manhart said.

The entrepreneurship program is entirely elective, leading most people to cherry-pick classes that best fit their needs and interests instead of taking the whole series, Bulas said.

To increase enrollment and interest, the college is doing its best to adapt the program to students' needs and time constraints.

Within the last two weeks, CCC decided to combine class topics and reduce the credit hours for the entrepreneurship certificate program from 18 to 12, Bulas said. That change will go into effect in the fall.

Also during the fall semester, officials at the Grand Island campus also hope to offer extended learning classes that will give attendees an overview of entrepreneurship-related topics, such as business funding, legal issues and QuickBooks, in a matter of a few hours or days. The Hastings campus has offered similar courses for years, Bulas said.

The entrepreneurship programs aren't just about course work, however.

The CCC campuses also offer mentoring and referral services to those interested in starting their own business.

In the future, officials at the Grand Island campus hope to support business incubators at the college and possibly in the mall and downtown Grand Island areas.

Manhart predicts there will be an increasing demand for the entrepreneurship classes, especially as people begin thinking about pursuing business ownership as a career.

"People don't really have an entrepreneurial mindset here," Manhart said.

Entrepreneurship is the lifeblood of the economy, particularly in rural areas such as Central Nebraska, Bulas said.

"It is an opportunity for self-employment," Bulas said. "It is an opportunity for people who live in rural areas to remain in rural areas."

It's also a means of making money that Fitzgerald said she would definitely recommend to others.

"I'm in a small community and I'm getting to know so many more (people) and become so much more active in the community," Fitzgerald said. "You get so much more freedom."