STEUBENVILLE - The 2010 version of Project Bootstraps, a series of seminars geared toward assisting local citizens considering owning a small business, will begin Wednesday at the Franciscan University of Steubenville's St. Joseph Center.

The Project Bootstraps seminars are a project of the university's Students in Free Enterprise in cooperation with the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce, the Progress Alliance economic development organization, the Community Foundation of Jefferson County, the Herald-Star and Valley Ventures.

The first of four seminars will feature Jessica Sherman, regional coordinator for MCBI-Regional Incubator for Entrepreneurs. She will discuss "The Roadmap for Establishing a Successful Small Business," emphasizing the necessary and logical steps that need to be taken to create a small business.

Sherman joined the Muskingum County Business Incubator as its regional director in April. She is from Zanesville and holds a bachelor of arts in business administration from Charleston Southern University.

After college, she worked in Charlotte, N.C., in merchandising, sales and sports marketing for Lowe's corporate offices.

Most recently, she was account supervisor at GMR Marketing, where she managed Lowe's corporate event marketing. Her experience has prepared her to provide support and advocacy to the nine Ohio counties that use the Muskingum County Business Incubator.

The seminars will be held in the university's St. Joseph Center at 7 p.m. for four consecutive Wednesdays, beginning this week.

The seminars are free to the public and refreshments are served.

The speakers include:

Feb. 3 - Robert McDonald, assistant professor of management and an attorney, who will discuss "Legal Basics for Small Businesses."

Feb. 10 - Jeff Rankin, assistant professor of marketing, who will present "Marketing Planning - Entrepreneurial Approaches."

The Feb. 17 concluding session will feature a panel discussion involving 10 successful local entrepreneurs including Michael Givens of Givens Home Improvement; Vicki DeLeonardis of the Ville Restaurant; Mark Nelson of Nelson Fine Arts and Gifts; Chris Irvin of Irvin Insurance Services; Aubrey Nurczyk of Aubrey's Bakery; Mark Longo of Steubenville Fruit Co.; Sara Sable-Antry of Tri-State Audiology; Jason Rivers of the UPS Store in Steubenville; Steve Feher of the Ridgefield Group and Paul Carapellotti of Anthony Mining Inc.

(Giannamore can be contacted at pgiannamore@heraldstaronline.com.)