HELP OFFERED FROM MOSCOW TO MOORPARK : SCHOOL TEACHES ABOUT GLOBAL TRADE.

Byline: Michael Coit Daily News Staff Writer

After developing a fledgling dental supply company into a corporation with nationwide sales, Vic Pollard found that he still could learn something about building a successful business.

Pollard credits the Ventura County Entrepreneur Academy with preparing him to negotiate and gain a $3 million contract with a dental clinic in Russia - boosting export income 1,000 percent.

``It helped me with the contract wording and the procedures,'' Pollard said of the academy's four-month business planning course. ``I met a lot of nice young people there who taught me some things. You never stop learning.''

Established in 1994 by the Ventura County Human Resources Department with a state employee training grant, the academy curriculum teaches business owners about strategic planning, marketing, financial management, operating systems, financing and legal concerns.

Starting in September, the academy is going global with a program to help business owners explore and tap into opportunities in other countries. The Global Entrepreneurship Program is another effort by the academy to meet its goal of helping employers expand and increase full-time jobs.

``The idea is that, as we train the entrepreneurs, they expand their businesses and hire more people, and that has been the case,'' said Georgie Davies, who helps direct the academy for the county.

More than 400 business owners have graduated through the academy's Planning for Success program during the first two years. Those business owners have reported an average gross revenue increase of 16 percent within six months of completing the program, and more than 80 percent have reported increased sales and have hired additional employees, academy officials said.

Davies said the county developed the global program and applied for an employment training grant at the urging of past graduates who want help going beyond the work of planning a business.

``The graduates have said the first classes were great, and now they're ready for more,'' she said.

The academy turned to a familiar source of funding to gain the grant that will pay for the global program.

The California Employment Training Panel is a state agency that administers business taxes collected specifically for distribution to employers to train their work forces and pay for training unemployed workers. The panel provided the $290,000 grant to launch the academy two years ago, and has approved a $486,000 grant for the global program for 1996-97.

The 12-week sessions begin with the academy's staple business planning program. Three new sessions will make up the global program.

The ``Excellence in Business'' course will show how to set up control systems, how to gain a competitive edge with quality products and services, and how to prepare for the International Standard Organization certification.

``Growth Through Technology'' will help business owners increase productivity, expand market share and increase profits. The course also will show how to evaluate, create and sustain technological changes.

The ``Exporting Essentials'' course will show business owners how to research foreign markets, find customers, price exports and secure payments, as well as learn international regulations and legal issues. Graduates will complete an export business plan at the end of the course.

Instructors will be from the California Lutheran University Enterprise Development Center, the Oxnard College Center for International Trade Development and private businesses.

Pollard said the academy program he completed was worth the time and effort, even for a successful 77-year-old man who describes himself as the original entrepreneur.

``We went over a lot of things that businessmen should know as far as getting a business letter together, applying for loans, consulting, employee relationships,'' he recalled. ``I never had any business training. I didn't have that opportunity.''

To be eligible, a participant must have 10 or fewer full-time employees, have a California identification number, attend 80 percent of the classes, and retain the same number of employees for 90 days after completing the program. If these criteria are met, the participant gets back a $200 fee paid in advance of the program.

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