Welcome to the newest edition of MOBI’s Newsletter. With each issue we reach out to our students, alumni, partners, and readers to share important highlights from the My Own Business Institute at the Leavey School of Business, Santa Clara University. We hope you will enjoy these updates and continue your relationship with MOBI on your path toward entrepreneurship!

Feel free to opt-out of this newsletter by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom. Para leer este boletín en español, haga clic aquí. 

Thank you from MOBI!

We would like to begin this newsletter by thanking our students and readers for the emails you send to us. We strive to continually improve our user experience and content, and your questions and comments provide excellent insight to help us pursue this goal. It is especially inspiring to the entire MOBI Team when we receive feedback from students who have enjoyed their MOBI course and found it valuable in achieving their business goals. Recently we received this email from a student:

With heartfelt gratitude, we thank all our readers and students for your emails! 

And don’t forget, we are always looking for stories we can share. If you would like to submit a story about your MOBI experience, business, or entrepreneurial journey, visit this brief survey. 

We are also collecting quotes and testimonials from students as part of our 10-Year Anniversary celebration. You can provide one here (text, photos, or videos accepted).

MOBI resets its courses each calendar year. The reset this year will take place on August 15, 2025, and students will have until October 1, 2025 to finish any 2024-2025 courses. Any work-in-progress will not be transferred to 2025-2026 courses. **Partner courses reset on a different schedule.**

Don’t have time to finish your course before October 1? No problem! Just use your same account login to enroll in a 2025-2026 course. Registration for 2025-2026 courses will open on August 15. For more information, visit our Course Reset FAQs page here. 

We are excited to introduce new curriculum for our free online courses as well as the availability of our newest group of MOBI On Demand audio and video sessions.

Curriculum updates include these sessions: (click link to visit session)

• Adapting Your Business for Change 
• Business Storytelling 
• Buying a Franchise
• Hiring and Firing 
• Managing and Motivating Employees

Sessions now available with audio and video learning options include: (click link to watch on YouTube) Advanced Digital Marketing, Business Storytelling, Controlling Costs, Customer Experience and Feedback,  Developing Negotiation Skills, Microfinancing Basics, and Making Ethical Decisions. Visit all MOBI On Demand videos here.

Along with these updates, we’ve added many new templates, examples, checklists, and more to help you use the information provided in these sessions. You can find our full collection of resources on the MOBI Resource Documents page of our Resources and Tools section of the MOBI website.

These updates are available now and will also be included in our 2025-2026 courses, opening for enrollment on August 15.

The Spanish pins on our MOBI Pinterest page have always generated high engagement among our audiences. We wanted to make it even easier for you to find the Spanish content you need, so we have launched a separate MOBI Spanish Pinterest account! Here you will find the same themed boards as our English account for easy navigation to the business issues of greatest interest to you. Check out our new account (https://www.pinterest.com/mobiespanol/) and follow us as we continue to build out our Spanish pin content!

We are so proud of the accomplishments of our MOBI students around the world. Each newsletter we will share the story of one MOBI entrepreneur. This edition features Nutrivitamine, founded by MOBI entrepreneur Nelly Pérez González.

MOBI partners are an important part of the MOBI program! By forming partnerships with diverse communities of students around the world, MOBI can inspire entrepreneurship in ways that best meet the specific opportunities of each group, and always for free. This edition features Alabama Extension at A&M University. We extend our gratitude to Terence Norwood, State Extension Specialist, Community and Economic Development, Alabama Cooperative Extension System, Alabama A&M University for providing this MOBI Partner Spotlight.

We utilize MOBI in our Go-Getter Pathways program, a free educational series for Alabama residents that offers entrepreneurship education and workforce credential opportunities. Only about 5.2 percent of impoverished Alabamians will obtain a high status of wealth in their lifetime. According to the World Bank, the surest way out of poverty is a job and rising wages. The Go-Getter Entrepreneurship allows participants to learn business strategies, marketing, operations, and financial management.

Why did you choose MOBI? 
MOBI was the missing link we needed to operate a statewide virtual incubator. There was no way that we could have made the project work without the MOBI team, resources, and strategic partnership. Also, MOBI saved our organization $24,000, which allows us to stretch our budget. 

How is MOBI making a difference for your community/your students?
Our initial pilot included 50 individuals with 21 individuals earning Certificates of Completion from MOBI. Additionally, entrepreneurs were able to obtain $8,000 in startup grants, and approximately 20 have officially formed their LLCs. We have noticed that participants continue to log into MOBI to review content and resources. 

Anything else?
We will be leveraging the strength of MOBI to launch our cohorts in Alabama’s urban centers (Birmingham, Huntsville, Mobile & Montgomery) beginning in September. The Birmingham cohort will be hybrid. Also, MOBI allows us to extend the project beyond the urban centers into communities throughout Alabama. With MOBI, we increase access and remove barriers to our entrepreneurship programs from Alabama’s urban streets to its country roads. 

MOBI’s Senior Director Trish Kalbas-Schmidt joined Terence Norwood virtually at NACDEP 2025. Together they highlighted Birmingham Community Incubator’s impact and work.

For more information and to see a partial list of partners, visit our Partnerships page. Learn more about our three partnership levels by viewing our MOBI Partner Comparison Chart. Interested in becoming a MOBI partner? Submit a Partnership Request.

Here are some events from the past few months.

Here is our new survey question: 

Which business trend excites you the most right now?

Here are the options you can choose from when you click the survey button below:

• Artificial intelligence (AI)
• Convenience and time-saving services
• Ecommerce and online selling
• Gig and freelance opportunities
• Health and wellness
• Personalized, niche products
• Specialized food businesses
• Sustainable/eco-friendly businesses

Click the button to submit your choices, then stay tuned for the next newsletter where the responses will be shared.

In our last newsletter we asked these questions and here is how the answers ranked based upon your answers:

1) How do you use technology in your business?

2) What is your primary device for your business?

We wish you good health and all the best in business success!

The MOBI Team