DURHAM, N.H. - If you're thinking of starting your own business in New Hampshire, the New Hampshire Small Business Development Center has the online course for you.

An outreach program of the University of New Hampshire Whittemore School of Business and Economics, the NH SBDC has launched the online course "Starting a Business in New Hampshire." It is one of more than 20 free online courses that are part of the center's e-Learning for Entrepreneurs courses.

"The SBDC's new course empowers New Hampshire entrepreneurs by providing critical facts and details needed to get their businesses up and running," said Mary Collins, NH SBDC state director. "We know that we will save New Hampshire entrepreneurs many hours of research, and hope that this helps create stronger businesses and jobs here in the Granite State."

The NH SBDC received a grant from the U.S. Small Business Administration to develop the online course for distressed areas of the state.

The course provides the aspiring New Hampshire small business owner with information and resources for starting a business in New Hampshire. Find out about registering a business name, the different types of business organization, taxes and licensing, insurance, business plans, and more. Many important website links and other resources are provided within the course. The course includes 65 animated slides and will last about 75 minutes. Like all of the e-Learning for Entrepreneurs courses, courses are designed to be taken during one or multiple sittings. Students can pause a course at any point and restart it later.

The NH SBDC's e-Learning for Entrepreneurs classes are free and available online, any time. More than 20 classes are offered in finance, marketing and business management. Each 2-3.5 hour course is comprised of animated slides accompanied by voice-over narration, PowerPoint presentations, worksheets, toolsets, and access to a comprehensive knowledgebase.

More than 1,500 e-Learning for Entrepreneurs classes have been taken. The addition of "Starting a Business in New Hampshire" provides the first of several courses directed specifically to New Hampshire entrepreneurs.

E-Learning for Entrepreneurs is sponsored by Public Service of New Hampshire, NH Division of Economic Development, and the University of New Hampshire.

The NH Small Business Development Center provides confidential business management consulting and educational programs to New Hampshire's small businesses. The NH SBDC is the only New Hampshire agency that has full-time certified business advisors providing one-on-one, long-term, management consulting to small businesses. NH SBDC is a cooperative venture with the U.S. Small Business Administration, the State of New Hampshire (DRED), the University System of New Hampshire, and the private sector. For more info on NH SBDC, visit www.nhsbdc.org.

The University of New Hampshire, founded in 1866, is a world-class public research university with the feel of a New England liberal arts college. A land, sea, and space-grant university, UNH is the state's flagship public institution, enrolling more than 12,200 undergraduate and 2,200 graduate students.

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