Overview
Complete the Starting Your Own Business program and earn a microcredential
Upon successfully completing this program, you will receive a microcredential recognizing your learning achievement. Complete with details of the skills and specialized knowledge you have acquired, the microcredential is digitally shareable, making it easy to add to your resume, LinkedIn profile and to share with current or prospective employers.
Earn a Certificate of Completion in Starting Your Own Business with our flexible online courses
Are you an aspiring entrepreneur looking for a place to start? Look no further than McMaster Continuing Education’s Certificate of Completion in Starting Your Own Business. This 12-week program is designed to help you assess your potential to work for yourself and start a business or refine an existing one. This is a non-credit course, with no tests and exams. Throughout the program you will be given reflective activities that will help you build a business plan to start a new business or reinvent your existing business.
- Learn key strategies and skills to assess your entrepreneurial potential
- Discover how to determine the viability of a business idea
- Learn when to grow and scale a business
- Participate in once-a-week live sessions with the instructor on a scheduled evening from 7:30 – 9:00 ET.
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Program highlights Learn More
- Now offered as a microcredential
- Flexible online courses with weekly live coaching sessions
- Taught by industry experts
- Open enrolment program
Starting Your Own Business program features:
- Bring your entrepreneurial idea or new business plan to complete program activities and receive facilitator feedback from potential investors and stakeholders
- Participate in weekly live sessions with the instructor on a scheduled evening from 7:30 – 9:00 ET
- Learn online through instructor-led lectures and presentations
- Group discussions and networking with other professionals
Have questions about this program? Contact us through the program email: ce_etpns@mcmaster.ca

What you'll learn Learn More
- Learn success strategies for entrepreneurs and small business owners
- Articulate a compelling case for a new business idea
- Professional strategies for running your own business
Through our Starting Your Own Business program, you’ll learn to:
- Apply practical strategies to identify and assess your entrepreneurial potential
- Recognize the key characteristics of successful entrepreneurs and start-up businesses
- Identify key industry success factors and conduct a competitive analysis to determine the viability of a business idea
- Develop sound marketing, financing and staffing plans for a new business
- Articulate a compelling case for a new business idea to potential investors and stakeholders
Learn more about our Starting Your Own Business program
- Future and new small business owners
- Those who want to learn:
- key strategies and skills to assess their entrepreneurial potential
- determine the viability of a business idea
- understand the process of growing a business
- Anyone who has recently started a new business and believes that the business could be doing better
Earning a Certificate of Completion could put you on a path to a rewarding career running your own business.
Do you already have a business idea? Use that idea in the program to build to a business plan.
Need Coaching on a new idea? Successful Entrepreneurs will provide you the mentoring you need.
Thinking about starting your own business, but don’t know where to begin? We know that it can be a daunting task especially with many sectors being affected by the pandemic, leaving entrepreneurs facing new challenges.
Grant Fraser, experienced entrepreneur and course instructor, shares the top 10 things every aspiring business owner needs to know to start, grow and maintain a successful business.
Check out our latest Program Preview webinar recording to learn more about the Starting Your Own Business program
What our recent graduates say

Adam
Business Administration graduate
I feel very strongly that McMaster Continuing Education can really help you reinvent your career.
I feel very strongly that McMaster Continuing Education can really help you reinvent your career. I found that the Business Administration program was really the best fit for me, because the learning that I was able to take in through this program was really cutting edge and current to the labour market. The learning that I took on is something I use every day.
Adam
Business Administration graduate
Judelyn '23
Business Administration with a concentration in Finance/Accounting
I appreciated the opportunity to discover my full potential and strengths, which inspired me to do better.
My family migrated to Canada in 2006 from the Philippines (Asia). I hold a bachelor’s degree in accounting from my home country.
Although challenging, I am grateful for the opportunities I have been given. I started my journey in Canada with temporary junior accounting jobs. It allowed me to integrate myself into the Canadian workforce and culture. After gaining more Canadian work experience, I landed a permanent job. Currently, I work as Treasury Analyst in a HydroElectric Generation company.
Despite the obstacles, I was determined to gain Canadian credentials. The pandemic made it more challenging, but I persisted. I balance work, study, and family.
In December 2019, I enrolled at McMaster University. Later earned a Diploma in Business Administration with a Concentration in Finance and completed a Diploma in Accounting.
While studying at McMaster University, I developed my self-discipline and changed how I perceive things, which is priceless. I have to experience it to learn and discover it. I am self-motivated. I noticed I enjoyed studying – understanding in depth and not memorizing, which I usually did when I was younger.
The McMaster University courses were challenging to be honest, and my teachers taught me to be a critical thinker. I began thinking outside the box. The good thing is that if I had an idea or answered a question, they let me explain why I came up with that answer – that, for me, was so engaging for a student to understand more and strive to improve rather than simply dismissing a student’s incorrect answer.
From personal experience, the teaching style of McMaster University is different, and I appreciated the opportunity to discover my full potential and strengths, which inspired me to do better. Until now, I have applied the ways and self-discipline I had gained even with this Treasury Designation exam I took recently. I want to thank and let McMaster know the influence/the lessons they had instilled in me that changed my outlook and mindset, making me better and excel in what I want to be.
Judelyn
Business Administration with a concentration in Finance/Accounting

Tracy
Project Management graduate
I am constantly reinventing myself. McMaster Continuing Education has been transformative.
I am constantly reinventing myself. McMaster Continuing Education has been transformative. I was introduced to new ideas and new skills. Because of that, I’ve had new opportunities in my career. McMaster Continuing Education is the best place to take professional development courses. The programs fit into your life.
Tracy
Project Management graduate
I feel very strongly that McMaster Continuing Education can really help you reinvent your career.
I feel very strongly that McMaster Continuing Education can really help you reinvent your career. I found that the Business Administration program was really the best fit for me, because the learning that I was able to take in through this program was really cutting edge and current to the labour market. The learning that I took on is something I use every day.
Adam
Business Administration graduate
I appreciated the opportunity to discover my full potential and strengths, which inspired me to do better.
My family migrated to Canada in 2006 from the Philippines (Asia). I hold a bachelor’s degree in accounting from my home country.
Although challenging, I am grateful for the opportunities I have been given. I started my journey in Canada with temporary junior accounting jobs. It allowed me to integrate myself into the Canadian workforce and culture. After gaining more Canadian work experience, I landed a permanent job. Currently, I work as Treasury Analyst in a HydroElectric Generation company.
Despite the obstacles, I was determined to gain Canadian credentials. The pandemic made it more challenging, but I persisted. I balance work, study, and family.
In December 2019, I enrolled at McMaster University. Later earned a Diploma in Business Administration with a Concentration in Finance and completed a Diploma in Accounting.
While studying at McMaster University, I developed my self-discipline and changed how I perceive things, which is priceless. I have to experience it to learn and discover it. I am self-motivated. I noticed I enjoyed studying – understanding in depth and not memorizing, which I usually did when I was younger.
The McMaster University courses were challenging to be honest, and my teachers taught me to be a critical thinker. I began thinking outside the box. The good thing is that if I had an idea or answered a question, they let me explain why I came up with that answer – that, for me, was so engaging for a student to understand more and strive to improve rather than simply dismissing a student’s incorrect answer.
From personal experience, the teaching style of McMaster University is different, and I appreciated the opportunity to discover my full potential and strengths, which inspired me to do better. Until now, I have applied the ways and self-discipline I had gained even with this Treasury Designation exam I took recently. I want to thank and let McMaster know the influence/the lessons they had instilled in me that changed my outlook and mindset, making me better and excel in what I want to be.
Judelyn
Business Administration with a concentration in Finance/Accounting
I am constantly reinventing myself. McMaster Continuing Education has been transformative.
I am constantly reinventing myself. McMaster Continuing Education has been transformative. I was introduced to new ideas and new skills. Because of that, I’ve had new opportunities in my career. McMaster Continuing Education is the best place to take professional development courses. The programs fit into your life.
Tracy
Project Management graduate
Other programs you may be interested in
Certificate of Completion in Starting Your Own Business
Certificate of Completion in Starting Your Own Business
Pursue your Certificate of Completion in Starting Your Own Business with McMaster Continuing Education
Get the strategies, coaching, and community you need to start and scale your business. You will gain new perspectives in complex marketplaces and confidence to pursue your dreams. Explore the requirements below and register today!
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Certificate of Completion in Starting Your Own Business
Earn the Certificate of Completion, by participating in the 12-week course and successfully working towards your goals and creating a plan for the future.
Certificate of Completion in Starting Your Own Business
The 30-hour, Starting Your Own Business program is structured to assist future and new small business owners assess their potential to work for themselves and scale their business.
Have questions about this program? Contact us through the program email: ce_etpns@mcmaster.ca
Courses (complete 1)
EPN 201
Starting your own Business
(Currently Not Available)
Starting Your Own Business Courses
Starting Your Own Business Courses
Advance your career with online courses
Explore the course below and register today!
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EPN 201
Starting your own Business
(Currently Not Available)
Starting Your Own Business Schedule
Starting Your Own Business Schedule
This schedule table displays courses planned to be offered this year and is a guide to planning your courses for the academic year. Please note: Spring term registration opens mid-March and Fall/Winter term registration opens mid-July. The schedule table is subject to change. Please visit the course pages to browse classes currently available for registration and the latest cost information. The cost for Starting Your Own Business courses is $618 per course.
Learning format definitions:
- VC = Virtual Classroom learning format
- O = Online learning format
- OSS = Online Self-Study learning format
For more information about our learning formats and to choose a format that works best for you, please visit our Learning Formats page.
Course Name (Course Code) | Spring 2023 | Fall 2023 |
---|---|---|
Starting Your Own Business (EPN 201) |