Even 'big business' is personal at Seminole State

With more than 3,000 enrollments annually, the Business Program at Seminole State College of Florida is one of the largest in Central Florida. But even “big business” is personal at Seminole State. Giving students real-world experience and industry connections are the program’s strengths.

For the past 10 years, the Business Program has hosted the Seminole Startup – Entrepreneurship Competition. The competition allows students to use what they’ve learned in the classroom and apply that knowledge to create and develop an original business plan, with coaching from faculty mentors and the Entrepreneurship Advisory Committee made up of professionals from the local business industry. The goal of the competition is for students to develop skills in business idea generation, proposal presentation, and capital seeking – all marketable skills to help students prepare for a successful career with an existing company or in a new business of their own.

Winning business plans in the competition have included a gluten-free lunch box, a Spanish restaurant and delivery service, a pressure-washing business and an app to identify foods with cancerous ingredients. In addition to helping students showcase their business skills, the competition aims to expand business in Seminole County and to create a pathway for those new businesses to hire students from Seminole State once the businesses take off.

The entrepreneurship competition is just one example of how Seminole State’s Business Program works to give students hands-on experience with the ins and outs of the industry before they graduate. The College offers nearly 40 business degrees and certificates, including bachelor’s degrees in business and information management and management and organizational leadership. Similar to how the aforementioned Entrepreneurship Advisory Committee supports the entrepreneurship competition and the Associate in Science (A.S.) degree in Entrepreneurship and Business Management, the bachelor’s degrees are supported by a program advisory board comprising professionals from the regional business community and economic development agencies. Courses for these programs were developed with input from this advisory board, so students can be sure they are learning the skills the workforce demands, including employment skills like critical thinking, effective communication and cultural competence.

Whether it’s a competition, a capstone course project or a connection with professionals from the industry, the real-world application of business principles gives students in Seminole State’s Business Program a workforce advantage. As evidence, the business programs boast a near-perfect job placement rate, with a 100% placement rate for graduates of the A.S. in Entrepreneurship and Business Management and the bachelor’s in business and information management (the bachelor’s in management and organizational leadership is too new for state data on placement rates to be available). Ultimately, the success of the program’s graduates serves the Central Florida business community now. And with more students graduating each semester, that pipeline of talent for the workforce is poised to continue in the years to come.

To learn more about Seminole State’s Business Program, visit seminolestate.edu/business-admin. For more about the 2024 Seminole Startup – Entrepreneurship Competition, visit seminolestate.edu/entrepreneurship/startup.