Rowan’s Liguori, others in Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization, collaborate with Amazon in new Small Business Academy

Rowan University’s Dr. Eric Liguori, founding head of the School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the Rohrer College of Business (RCB), is one of eight faculty members from across the U.S. selected to support the development of Amazon.com’s newly launched Amazon Small Business Academy (ASBA), the online retailing giant announced March 21.

The faculty members, including educators from Indiana University, Sam Houston University in Texas and California State University, are faculty leaders in the Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization (CEO), Amazon’s ASBA partner. ASBA offers a suite of free, interactive resources and tools for small business owners and entrepreneurs to help start, build, launch and scale up businesses online.

In a statement, Amazon representatives said “the new ASBA experience features three self-service educational tracks – ‘Start,’ ‘Build’ and ‘Launch’ – to help small business owners build the self-reliance, confidence and perseverance they’ll need for success.”

The ASBA program is open to any small business owner or aspiring entrepreneur, and may be accessed at smallbusiness.amazon.

In addition to a popular and ever-growing entrepreneurship program based out of the RCB, college faculty work with various community startups, supporting businesses in a variety of ways including through the newly-expanded, $25 million Rowan Innovation Venture Fund and, starting this past fall, “Accelerate South Jersey: Focus Camden,” which trains aspiring businesspeople.

Like the Accelerate South Jersey program, the new ASBA is completely free, but its focus is fully online.

“While our primary mission is, and always will be, centered on undergraduate education, we are also committed to growing the regional economy and that includes helping educate and support aspiring entrepreneurs who don’t have a traditional relationship with Rowan,” Liguori said. “Supporting the development of free learning content for the Amazon Small Business Academy in one great way for us to have a larger impact and support a much wider array of aspiring entrepreneurs to grow their enterprises.”

In its statement, Amazon noted that nearly 60% of products sold through its website are through selling partners – most of which are small and medium-sized businesses – and the company said it will continue to invest in resources to give entrepreneurs and small business owners access to information to help them succeed.