The power of the entrepreneurial spirit will take Santa Clarita by storm Tuesday, October 27, when The Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour lands at the Santa Clarita Performing Arts Center at College of the Canyons.

The Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour is being presented by the California Community Colleges Economic Workforce Development Program and hosted by the College of the Canyons Small Business Development Center and the SBDC Young Entrepreneurs Program.

The event begins at 2:30 p.m., and is free and open to community members aged 14 to 27 and adults who teach, advise or otherwise work with young entrepreneurs.

“The state’s community colleges and Small Business Development Centers are looking for new ways to generate innovative businesses that create jobs and face down the recession,” said Mike Roessler, EWD’s program director. “Bringing the Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour to our college campuses is an out-of-the-box strategy that taps a largely overlooked resource: the creativity and energy of our young people.”  

The Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour works to help students take the initial steps needed to start a small business by offering inspiration and practical advice about how to get started.

Created in 2006 by young entrepreneurs Sheena Lindahl, 26, and Michael Simmons, 27, the Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour features a collection of fellow young entrepreneurs from California who have made significant impacts in the business community before reaching the age of 30.

“More than half the companies on the 2009 Fortune 500 list were launched during a recession or bear market,” said Simmons.  “Technology and globalization have made it very inexpensive to start a business.  Now is the best time that there has ever been to become your own boss.”

The SBDC’s Young Entrepreneurs Program implements business training programs and free business counseling aimed at young people between the ages of 14 and 27. The goal of YEP is to have young people become more interested in self-employment as a career-option.
Through the completion of YEP projects, students will garner transferable business skills, gain an understanding about the relevance of education and develop life management and problem solving skills.

For more information about the SBDC Young Entrepreneurs Program please call (661) 294-9375 or email sbdc@canyons.edu. For more information about the Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour please visit www.extremetour.org/ca.