*This is a four week program with classes on 2/2, 2/9, 2/16, 2/23*

Do you want to learn how to build an effective business plan, propose a project, and sell an opportunity? During this challenging time, the Harvard Ed Portal is pleased to offer Allston Brighton residents, business owners, entrepreneurs, nonprofits as well as others in Greater Boston a valuable four-week online learning and professional development opportunity, Business Plan Development.

* Space is limited to 25 and priority will be given to Allston-Brighton residents/businesses, but registration is open to all in the greater Boston and Cambridge area.*  

This online course from Harvard Business Publishing, the publishers of the renowned Harvard Business Review, will teach you how to start your business plan, tell your organization's story, document your marketing and operation plans, and present your financial analysis. You'll learn the key concepts with a mix of practical content, videos, infographics, and downloadable tools.

During this challenging time, the Harvard Ed Portal is pleased to offer you a unique learning opportunity starting on Tuesday, February 2:

What:

Access to four Harvard Business Publishing online courses and four weekly meetings with a cohort of up to 25 local business and community professionals, given: 

• You take the Business Plan Development course
• You attend four weekly live sessions (2/2, 2/9, 2/16, 2/23) led by Harvard Extension School Instructor Areen Shahbari (biography found below) 

Why the Business Plan Development course?

The Business Plan Development course will help managers:

• Prepare to create a business plan
• Introduce their organization, its people, and its objectives within a business plan
• Indicate the opportunity and competitive differentiators within a business plan
• Define their approach to marketing and operations within a business plan
• Show their current financial status and projected results within a business plan

About Areen Shahbari:

Areen Shahbari is a Fulbright alumna, a business consultant, the founder and CEO of Cactus International, a faculty member at Harvard University Extension School and Harvard      Professional Development Programs, and an entrepreneurship instructor at Stanford University Continuing Studies, and Babson Executive Education. Before moving to Silicon Valley, Shahbari held a Lecturer position at Simmons University School of Business in Boston. Shahbari’s training and consultancy focus on entrepreneurship, innovation, strategy, marketing, effective communication, and leadership. Her research focuses on the intersection of business and psychology.

Shahbari has provided business consultation, coaching, and training to thousands of local and international professionals, entrepreneurs, and innovative companies, she speaks at local and international conferences and has led workshops and training programs in the United States, Chile, Jordan, Palestine, Morocco, Qatar, Bahrain, Turkey, and Mexico. She is also the Chief Executive Officer of Cactusint.com, a company that she founded in 2013 to promote women entrepreneurship and leadership in the Middle East and North Africa Regions. Through Cactus she has been training and consulting hundreds of MENA women on how to start and grow scalable and sustainable businesses.

Prior to her teaching and entrepreneurial career, Shahbari worked for over ten years in the media industry as a journalist, a TV programming director and a TV host of six TV shows, where she interviewed over 500 professionals on topics ranging from politics, law, gender equity, diversity and inclusion, to education, psychology, and business.  

Shahbari received multiple Excellence in Teaching awards from Simmons School of Business and letters of commendation for her distinguished teaching performance from Harvard University Extension School. She is fluent in three languages, holds a BA in psychology and communication, and an MBA in entrepreneurship from Simmons School of Business, where she was a Fulbright scholar and an inductee of the Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society.