SAFFORD — Vicki Seppala, general manager of Freeport-McMoRan’s Safford Operation, told the most recent graduating cohort of the entrepreneur training program Dreambuilder that, as a member of the community, she was proud of them all.
“It takes a certain amount — not a certain amount, but a great deal — of resilience and adaptability. You’ve made your mission statement and developed your business plan, but things don’t always go to plan. So you have to navigate that and be resilient,” Seppala said, adding, “You know what’s best for you.”
The most recent Graham County cohort of the Dreambuilder program celebrated graduation Tuesday with a dinner and ceremony at Frontier Steak and Spirits.
– David Bell Photo/Gila Valley Central
The Dreambuilder program was created in 2011 as an online-only program by Freeport-McMoRan and the Thunderbird School of Global Management at ASU to help women own and grow businesses in Spanish-language countries.
It was brought to the United States and the innovation by the Small Business Development Center at Eastern Arizona College to incorporate in-person sessions with the online modules has now been adopted as the Dreambuilder model statewide.
Torey Cranford, SBDC business analyst and Dreambuilder facilitator, said the 13 online modules take 25-30 hours to complete and, with the in-person sessions, participants invest about 60 hours toward development of their businesses.
Graduates of the current cohort include:
- Erica Arnell
- Angelina Evans
- Monica Smith
- Maylean Taylor
- Alison Villalobos
In addition to graduating the program, Evans graduated the second platform, Financing Your Dream; and Smith graduated Financing Your Dream and the third platform, Accessing Value Channels.
Joel Robinson, director of the SBDC at EAC, announced that Cranford was named the full-time Dreambuilder facilitator for the college, and she was selected to be one of Arizona’s ambassadors to the nationwide Small Business Development Network.
Sponsors of Dreambuilder include Freeport-McMoran, Thunderbird School of Global Management, the Arizona Commerce Authority, Eastern Arizona College, SBDC Arizona and the Small Business Administration.
