We provide entrepreneurship training programs, 1-on-1 business advising and assistance with accessing capital.

You can learn more about our programs on our website. If you are still unsure, please Lesly Arellano (lesly@centrocommunity.org) to answer any additional questions you might have.

Our Entrepreneurship Bootcamp is usually conducted in two 3-hour sessions. Our Basic and Advanced Entrepreneurship Programs consist of nine 3-hour sessions. 1-on-1 advising and support accessing capital depends on how much support you need.

All our programs and support services are free!

Due to Covid-19, we are only offering online programs at the moment.

We currently offer programs for entrepreneurs in the San Francisco Bay Area, Stockton CA and New York.

Given that our programs are all online, you can participate in any of our programs. The only drawback is that our trainers may not be familiar with resources, regulations and other things specific to your location.

In order to provide free programs, we need to report information to our funders. All information we provide them is anonymous and in aggregate, so no personal information about individual entrepreneurs or their businesses is given to them.

We typically require that entrepreneurs miss no more than 3 sessions to graduate from the Basic and Advanced Entrepreneurship Programs. However, we do make exceptions for extraordinary circumstances, in which case you would need to make sure you schedule additional 1-on-1 sessions to make up for missed workshops.

If you can’t commit to our attendance requirements, please let us know and we will try to find a way to offer support that works for you.

Yes. The minimum age is 18 years old. If you are under 18, you can join the programs with the company of an adult.

Yes, we support all small business aspirants or owners regardless of their immigration status.

Yes you can. You can also reach out to Lesly Arellano (lesly@centrocommunity.org). She can help you figure out whether you should take the program again or find a different program/resource that better suits your needs.

We cover basic business strategy topics, which include vision, mission and values, market analysis, marketing strategy, products and services, operations, financial empowerment and business finance. We also provide more customized support through 1-on-1 advising that includes access to business resources and capital.

This app helps you write a complete business plan, including your financials by taking you through a series of simple activities that help you focus your ideas and turn them into a real business plan, regardless of your experience or formal business education. The app also helps you find business support resources and funders that can help you launch and grow your business.

You can find our free app by going to the Apple App Store for iOS (Apple devices) and the Android Play Store for Android devices and searching for “Centro Business Planning”. The app was not developed for computers, but can be downloaded to some Chromebooks.

We recommend starting with the Business Plan section first and completing activities in the following order:

1. Vision, Mission and Values

2. Personal Finance

3. Market Analysis

4. Products & Services

5. Marketing Strategy

6. Operations

7. Business Finance

The app is available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese and Khmer.

If you are unsure if a question applies to you, or you are not sure what it means, go ahead and skip it for now or make your best guess. You can always redo the activity later.

You can change answers by selecting the activity and going to the summary page. Then touch the button on the top-right of the screen.

If you want to add information not asked for by the app, you can request an editable copy of your business plan and make the changes directly in the document.

You can easily request your business plan outline at any time by touching the button at the bottom of the Business Plan start screen that says SEND MY BUSINESS PLAN. After that, just confirm your email address and your business plan will be automatically sent to you as an RTF document. The email will be sent from app@centrocommunity.org with the subject line: Your business plan from Centro.

You can open and edit your business plan using Microsoft Word (or similar programs). You can then make further edits or print it.

Search your spam folder for an email from app@centrocommunity.org. If you still can’t find the email, please send us an email app@centrocommunity.org with your full name and the email address you used to sign up for your app account.

We'd love to hear from you! Please send us your feedback to app@centrocommunity.org so that we can consider your suggestions as we continue to develop the Centro Business Planning App.

If you are working with a Centro trainer or advisor, or with one of our Entrepreneurship Suite affiliates, we can give them access to your app answers to help them better support you. Otherwise, we do not share individual data from app users with anyone. You can view our privacy policy on our website.

You can go to our E-suite page and purchase it with one click.

There is an initial cost of $4,000 plus $750 to train 2 people in your organization. The annual renewal fee is $2,000. You can find more details on the E-suite page.

Yes, you can adapt the Centro materials and use what best fits your community and its learning needs.

While the E-Suite can be used to help many different profiles of entrepreneurs, we intentionally designed for micro/small business owners with little-to-no business experience who are either in concept or early growth stage.

There is no limit to the number of entrepreneurs that can be trained through the E-Suite. However E-Suite affiliates are not permitted to put our content on online platforms (e.g Udemy) or share Centro programs and resources with other organizations.

We can provide training to trainers in English and Spanish. All of our E-Suite materials are available for trainers and entrepreneurs in English and Spanish.

Yes. In fact, we deliver most of our workshops through Zoom.

Current E-Suite affiliates can go to our Partner Resource Page at centro-mobile.org/partner-resources and enter the password when prompted. If you do not know the password or need to process a renewal, please contact Vernisha Williams (esuite@centrocommunity.org)

We can help you access both loans and grants from organizations like Kiva and other microlenders by providing you with information available about loans and grants and advising you as you prepare to apply for them, but we don’t provide any loans or grants ourselves.

This depends on the lender, because different lenders have different requirements. Most lenders require income tax returns, your credit score, bank account information, financial statements, and personal identification.

Grants and donations are sources of money that generally do not have to be repaid.

Loans are sources of money that need to be repaid.

Both grants and loans are provided by a variety of sources, such as government, non-profit and for-profit organizations.

Kiva is a crowdfunding platform that provides 0% interest loans.

Want to learn more about how Kiva works? Click Here.

Filling out the application usually takes between 30 minutes to an hour. However, we encourage you to put time into your application so that it tells your story and that of your businesses in a compelling way. The application is only available in ENGLISH.

A good application has a well thought out Personal Story, Business Description, and Loan Purpose. It is also important to have a quality Profile Photo that highlights the borrower and their business and a submitted Business Proof.

The average time for an application to undergo review is 5-7 business days. However, for entrepreneurs who have prepared for their application beforehand, the review process is much quicker.

Once you have submitted an application, the Private Fundraising campaign begins.

Private Fundraising is part of Kiva’s underwriting process. During the Private Fundraising period, borrowers are asked to get a certain number of people in their network to contribute to their campaign. This process is similar to crowdfunding. The biggest difference is that with Private Fundraising you are crowdfunding loans not donations.

Want to learn more about Private Fundraising on Kiva? Click here.

Kiva’s Public Fundraising period is the final stage of your Lending campaign. During the Public Fundraising period, your campaign is public on Kiva’s platform. This means that anyone of Kiva’s 1.9 million global borrowers can lend to your campaign.

Public Fundraising can take between 1 to 30 days. The more time and effort a borrower puts into their application and loan campaign, the faster they get funded on Kiva. This is why we encourage borrowers to take the time to think about their applications. Click here for more information on the application process and how to make your loan profile shine!

If your campaign does not get fully funded within 45 days of being put on our website then your loan campaign will expire and all your lenders will be refunded their money.

The benefit of crowdfunding is more than just having a new way to access capital. It’s also a great opportunity to introduce people to your business and get them to start talking about it. You can also receive input, comments, and ideas to help your business.

You can expect your loan to be disbursed 5-7 business days after it has been fully funded. Please wait 5-7 business days before reaching out to Kiva.

When you are paid money on PayPal, the money will NOT appear immediately in your bank account. The money goes into your PayPal account, and you have to go into your PayPal account to claim the money and transfer it into your bank account. Until you do so, the money will stay safely in your PayPal account.

Loan repayments begin one to six months after you receive the funds. (Check your qualification email)

All payments are made through PayPal. A few days before each of your payments is due, you’ll receive an invoice from Kiva with a link to make the payment.

1. Log into your Kiva Account.

2. Click on “Make repayment” or “Pay now”.

3. Make sure to log into your PayPal account (DO NOT checkout as a guest).

4. Choose your payment method and then click “Send payment now.”

1. Visit www.paypal.me/kivaus.

2. Enter the desired payment amount.

3. Make sure you are logged into your PayPal account when sending any payment to Kiva.

If for any reason your payment is going to be made late, it’s most important that you notify both your lenders and Kiva.

As your lenders contributed to your loan financing and believed in your business, it’s important that you keep them updated on the highs and lows of running your business through the conversations tab. Maintaining contact with Carlo Arellano (carlo@centrocommunity.org)

No. Kiva exclusively uses PayPal for all monetary transactions.

1. Dollar bills or coins.

2. Checks.

3. Wire transfers.

4. Money orders

5. Or any other money transferring system, such as Venmo, Google Wallet, Apple Pay, Skrill, Intuit, or Facebook Message payments.

To set up a PayPal account go here and click the “Sign up” button. The site will walk you through the process, but for more questions or to learn more about PayPal, you can go here for a more thorough overview.

You will need to link your PayPal account to either a credit card, debit card, or bank account. We highly suggest that you absolutely do not link your PayPal to a credit or debit card.

Remember that you need to confirm your email and your bank account to make sure they are connected correctly and that PayPal will work. Until you do this, money will not transfer.