Julio Estremera is a certified business analyst/program facilitator for the Florida Gulf Coast University's Small Business Development Center. This year, FGCU SBDC has nominated him for the State of Florida Star Award of the Year for his excellence in counseling and program development. Julio's entrepreneurial background and networking abilities in the Collier County community have helped him to promote the small business programs in the mainstream areas as well as the more rural areas of Immokalee, Hendry and Glades Counties. Because of the impact that Julio generated as he began to counsel and offer educational opportunities, Workforce Development gifted office space for Julio in the One-Stop Career & Services Center in Immokalee.

The opening of the first SBDC full-service sub center office in the Career & Services Center demonstrated and supported the outreach that Julio has, and how it has manifested into something that directly supports the community.

Julio is a frequent speaker and facilitator for the Southwest Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce seminar series and often submits articles in various Hispanic magazines and television and radio shows. During his free time, he volunteers as a Board member of the Amigos Center, a local no-profit community organization and he his an active member of the Immokalee Chamber of Commerce and works closely as a panel member with Workforce Development strategic planning process.

Julio recently represented our State FSBDC Network during a train the trainer program sponsored by the Merida Technology Institute, Yucatan, Mexico. Along with two other bi-lingual counselors, Julio lead a three day training series to develop and open a SBDC organization in Mexico. The class comprised of twenty professors for the Institute and the goal is to provide counseling and training, a mirror image of services in Florida.