Entrepreneurship: Starting and Operating a Small Business

Written by an award-winning expertdemystifies the process of starting a business by presenting difficult economic, financial and business concepts in a manner easily understood by beginners. This book addresses the demands of integrating workplace relevant activities to meet academic standards. Placing an emphasis on developing business plans, it can be used as a professional resource for anyone looking to start their own business.

Steve Mariotti, Founder & President of the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) is an expert in education for at-risk youth. For more than 20 years, he has been helping young people develop marketable skills by learning about entrepreneurship.

Steve Mariotti received an M.B.A. from the University of Michigan and has studied at Harvard University, Stanford University, and Brooklyn College. His professional career began by serving as a Treasury Analyst for Ford Motor Co. (1976-79). He then founded Mason Import/Export Services in New York, eventually acting as sales representative and purchasing agent for 32 overseas firms. In 1982, he made a significant career change and became a Special Education/Business Teacher in the New York City school system, choosing to teach in notorious neighborhoods such as Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn and the “Fort Apache” section of the South Bronx. It was at Jane Addams Vocational High School in the Bronx that he developed the insight and inspiration to bring entrepreneurial education to low-income youth. This led to founding the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) in 1987.

Caroline Wiedenman Glackin, PhD, is a “pracademic” who has successfully worked as a microenterprise and small business owner and manager, executive director of a community development financial institution, and as an academic in the areas of community development finance, entrepreneurship and management. She has been assisting entrepreneurs in achieving their dreams for over 25 years.

Glackin earned a PhD from the University of Delaware where her research emphasis was on the barriers, boosters, costs, and constraints for microentrepreneurs accessing financing. She received an M.B.A. from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and an A.B. from Bryn Mawr College. Dr. Glackin has studied at Harvard University, Stanford University, and Brooklyn College. Her professional career began with the DuPont Company in customer service and data systems roles. She worked in Strategic Planning for American Bell and Bell Atlantic during graduate school. Dr. Glackin then spent over 10 years working in or with small businesses, microenterprise, and not-for-profit agencies in turnaround and high growth situations (1985 — 1997). After exiting a family business, she became the Executive Director of the First State Community Loan Fund, a community development institution serving businesses, not-for-profits and developers of affordable housing (1997 — 2003). With the completion of her doctoral work, she joined Delaware State University, a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) as the Director of the Entrepreneurship Center, where she had the opportunity to work with other 1890 Land Grant entrepreneurship programs and conduct research on entrepreneurship education at institutions of higher education.

Caroline Wiedenman Glackin has succeeded in leading change in the practical fields of her research and has received numerous honors and awards. Her awards include the first Gloeckner Business Plan Award at The Wharton School (1983), the Minority Business Advocate of the Year for Delaware from the U.S. Small Business Administration (2000) and the She Knows Where She’s Going Award from Girls Inc. (2000). Dr. Glackin co-chaired the Delaware Governor’s Task Force for Financial Independence and has been an active participant in the Cornell University Emerging Markets Think Tank Series.