It’s often said that entrepreneurs are born, not made. While that might be mostly true, it’s also true the would-be entrepreneurs can benefit from learning about business plans, financing and marketing before they set off and start their own companies.

Those fundamental skills are behind the Entrepreneurship Academy at Butler County Community College where 13 high school seniors will be exposed to the basics of starting their own company, including classroom work at BC3 as well as exposure to successful small or startup businesses in the area.

The objective is not only to give prospective entrepreneurs from Butler County a jump start, but to help grow the county’s economy. Anthony Conti, trainer and data analyst at the Midwestern Intermediate Unit IV, which organized the program, said, “The real goal is building business in the community and growing the community.”

The idea of home-grown jobs is important even while much attention, including efforts by the Community Development Corporation of Butler County, focuses on attracting large established businesses to move to Butler County.

The competition to lure businesses to relocate is fierce, and while those efforts should continue in Butler County, it’s also important to encourage and nurture homegrown businesses. Ten small businesses creating 10 jobs each might be a more practical way to create 100 jobs than enticing a company from somewhere else to move 100 jobs to Butler County, with all the government red tape and tax abatements involved.

The Entrepreneurial Academy at BC3 will build on a core of STEAM skills. STEAM is an acronym for science, technology, engineering, arts and math.

Each of the 13 students from six county high schools will develop a business plan based on a product or service. Over the course of the school year, they will work as teams to develop their business ideas and will also have access to the technology lab at BC3, which includes a laser cutter, a 3-D printer and other tools.

Learning what those state-of-the-art tools can do, especially when it comes to quick and easy product prototypes is a real-world experience for today’s startups.

Those same tools are rapidly appearing in business incubators in larger cities. That message will become clear to the high school students at BC3 because they will take field trips to the Thrill Mill, a startup incubator in Pittsburgh and a similar facility in Youngstown, Ohio.

In addition to experiencing business incubators, the students will leave the BC3 campus once or twice a month to visit small and early-stage businesses to learn from successful business owners and entrepreneurs about the skills needed to start and run a business.

And while learning about important skills from people who run and maybe started their own business, the students might also learn even more valuable lessons by hearing about mistakes to avoid, such as inadequate working capital to sustain growth in the early years, not having an effective marketing plan, or letting costs grow too quickly.

The MIU IV program is in its second year in Mercer County, while this is the first year for the program in Butler.

The initial class in Butler and the instructors might find a few things to change in the coming years to improve the program going forward, but as now planned it’s a positive and encouraging effort to help prepare future entrepreneurs and business owners with the tools they need to thrive in today’s fast-changing marketplace.