Business Institute Offering Entrepreneurship Program for Latinos

American Management Tech University, a business and computer science institute primarily for South Korean immigrants, is offering a free entrepreneurship program to Latinos in an effort to foster closer ties between the two groups.

“We’re extending a hand to the Hispanic community because we all have to live together,” said Ky Chueon Kim, president of the private, nonprofit university in downtown Los Angeles. “We want to share our knowledge with our neighbors.”

Forty students, both business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs, will be selected to participate in the 12-week program, which will cover topics ranging from taxes and accounting to understanding Asian customs and communicating with members of different ethnic groups.

The program will be held Saturday mornings beginning this weekend, and run through April 30. Kim will lead a session that examines, among other issues, the need for entrepreneurs to have a sense of adventure.

Applications are available at the university or at the Latin Business Assn., Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and Wilshire State Bank, the program’s sponsor.

The seminars mirror a similar effort last year in which the school offered free entrepreneur training to 25 African Americans.

For more information, call (213) 386-2688.