New grant will team students with area entrepreneurs

ECU’s Crisp Small Business Resource Center and Campbell University have received a $50,000 NC Idea grant. The grant will give student team members a chance to join a high-growth company, provide specific business functions and gain real-world entrepreneurial experiences. For the entrepreneur, they’ll have more time to focus on their company’s growth and future outlook.

Under the grant,  startups in the NC Idea Startup Ecosystem Network will work with faculty-supervised student teams with the following skillsets: graphic design, video editing, web specialization, entrepreneurship, marketing, law and engineering/design. The intention is to assist companies that show promise and are competitive for other grants but lack certain skills to reach their potential entrepreneurial success.

“Both ECU and Campbell have talented students who can step in and fill the needs of the under-resourced businesses that call rural North Carolina home,” said David Mayo, director of the Crisp Small Business Resource Center. “Where traditionally our students have provided more of a consultative role in previous support, through the grant, students will be employees of the company and will provide the support work needed so the entrepreneurs can focus on growing their business.”

“It’s a new way to address the needs of rural businesses,” Mayo added.

 Mayo says the grant allows students from both institutions to collaborate with each other to address specific, unmet needs of the state’s entrepreneurial community, thus giving the students the experience needed to continue providing employment support after graduation.

“We want to expose students to entrepreneurial career paths so the state can build a talent pool in the startup ecosystem in the rural communities of North Carolina,” said Mayo.

Both institutions have strong histories working with NC Idea to deliver entrepreneurial solutions to North Carolina. ECU’s College of Business, home to the Crisp Center, has had students work directly with the regional small business clients since 1974. Recent programs, including the Crisp Center’s Accelerate Rural NC, have worked with more than 100 regional small businesses and provided support for those companies to access global markets to grow their customer base.

The Camel Accelerator at Campbell University provides entrepreneurial resources for minorities and females who reside in rural communities.

Interested students and companies can apply at the following website: Start Team Project.

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• Miller School of Entrepreneurship