MOBI adds leadership certificate and new business lessons

My Own Business Institute at Santa Clara University is expanding its free online courses for 2026-2027 with a new Leadership and Professional Success certificate, updated business topics and eight new audio and video sessions. The changes broaden MOBI’s reach beyond entrepreneurship and aim to make its curriculum more accessible to learners worldwide.

Why it matters: - MOBI is widening free business education to cover career skills that apply beyond entrepreneurship. - The expansion adds more ways for learners to access course material, including text, audio and video. - The new offerings are designed to help people start, manage and grow businesses while also building transferable workplace skills.

What happened: - My Own Business Institute at Santa Clara University’s Leavey School of Business launched its 2026-2027 course lineup on August 31, 2026. - MOBI introduced a new Leadership and Professional Success certificate course. - MOBI also added new and updated business topics across its existing courses. - The course catalog now includes eight new audio and video sessions.

The details: - The new Leadership and Professional Success certificate course includes 10 sessions. - The course covers project management, negotiation, customer experience, business operations, managing and motivating employees, ethics and other career-ready skills. - The course includes a free downloadable Professional Success Action Plan. - New and updated sessions include Managing Your Mental Health as a Business Owner, Data Analytics for Small Business, Smart Expense Management and Preparing for Succession: Transferring Ownership of Your Business. - Brian Moran contributed the mental health session. - Nicole Ruccolo contributed the data analytics session. - Scott Ready contributed the expense management session. - The succession session adds updated guidance on business and leadership transition planning. - MOBI offers more than 70 resources and tools tied to its curriculum. - New 2026-2027 sessions come with downloadable resources including a KPI Workbook, Mental Health Toolkit, Expense Management Action Checklist and Succession Planning Guide. - The flagship Starting a Business course is now fully available in text, audio and video formats. - Audio and video lessons are available in English, with Spanish subtitles for video. - Learners can access the audio and video content on MOBI’s YouTube channel, the MOBI website and the MOBI learning platform. - MOBI’s catalog includes seven courses: Starting a Business, Managing a Business, Growing a Business, Quick Start Entrepreneur, Small Business Essentials, Professional Development and the Sales and Marketing Badge Course. - All MOBI courses are free, asynchronous and self-paced. - Every MOBI student is eligible for a Certificate of Completion and/or a Digital Badge from Santa Clara University.

Between the lines: - The launch signals that MOBI is positioning itself as both an entrepreneurship school and a broader professional development resource. - Accessibility remains a central part of the strategy, with multiple formats and language support aimed at removing barriers to entry. - The new sessions reflect current small-business pressure points, including mental health, analytics, costs and ownership transitions.

What's next: - MOBI will roll out the new course content as part of the 2026-2027 catalog. - Learners can expect more use of audio and video formats across the platform. - MOBI will continue distributing free entrepreneurship and professional development content through its university-affiliated program.

The bottom line: - MOBI is expanding its free course library to help more people build business and career skills without cost, schedule constraints or format barriers.

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