Neither Miami Dade College nor Broward College planned to launch entrepreneurship certificate programs in the depths of this dismal economy.

Still, their timing couldn't have been better.

``There are a lot of people out of work right now, and we are always talking about how we can help them get back to work,'' said Michael Fenick, program manager for business administration at Broward College.

Sometimes that means helping students make their own jobs.

To that end, students at both colleges can earn a certificate in entrepreneurship, still a relatively rare program nationally at the associate's degree level.

Both programs teach students how to write and present their business plans, apply for financing, develop marketing and e-commerce strategies and manage a small firm. The programs don't require prerequisite courses or degree work. Speakers often include successful entrepreneurs, lenders, angel investors and e-commerce experts. Students also can participate in business plan and elevator pitch contests.

``You don't want to sit back and wait for the economy to take over your destiny,'' said James Popino, who teaches the entrepreneurship class at Broward College.

Popino, an entrepreneur himself as head of TVO Industries, a management consulting and merger and acquisition advisory firm, added that the courses aren't just for newbies. ``No matter how long you've been running your business,'' he said, ``you need help in some areas.''

Ana Ramirez signed up for Miami Dade College's entrepreneurship program to learn more about running her events planning business, Weddings by Ana. `I didn't want to do it halfway or the wrong way,'' she said.

What she didn't expect was that she would find important pieces of her business network right in the classroom -- a wedding photographer, a caterer, a party favors maker, a DJ and even a finance guy.

And that's what makes these entrepreneurship classes special, said Teddie Laing, department chairwoman of Miami Dade College's School of Business/North Campus. Because the courses are not prerequisites for other classes, everyone wants to be there specifically to learn how to start and run a business.

``It's a team effort when you are in a business,'' added Ramirez, who also plans to earn associate's degrees in marketing and business administration.

Mark Dozier, who teaches the Miami Dade certificate classes at the Carrie P. Meek Entrepreneurial Education Center, said just about everything in the curriculum is based on teamwork -- even the exams are taken in groups.

With so many people out of work, Dozier has seen growing interest in the one-year-old program, which has awarded 19 certificates so far. Most of his students are already launching businesses. ``It begins with you and it ends with you,'' he told a recent e-commerce class.

Broward College has been offering hands-on entrepreneurship courses for years now but just recently grouped them into a certificate program, Fenick said. It is so new it is not even on the website or in the catalog yet.

In deciding to launch its program, Miami Dade considered Kauffman Foundation-funded studies. The research, which Florida International University faculty participated in, showed that minorities, particularly African Americans, are most likely to attempt to start a business.

The college also heavily relied on input from the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, which promotes entrepreneurship training for middle and high school students.

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