Crisp Small Business Resource Center Update: Spring '21

Rural farm in North Carolina (photo credit: Dennis Tracz)

The Crisp Center had a productive spring semester and below are some key highlights.

 Accelerate Rural NC

Under the direction of Dennis Tracz, Accelerate Rural NC began its full development program during the spring semester. The program started in fall ‘20 with a limited pilot for Pitt County companies to help them apply innovative and entrepreneurial principles to traditional small businesses. After the completion of a second cohort in spring ’21, the program has now served approximately 70 companies in eastern North Carolina. Participating business owners attended virtual daily classes and weekly mentoring sessions, and received strategic assistance focused on web development, marketing, and prototyping.

Accelerate Rural NC was recently recognized for its work by a legislative small business task force. Specifically, the “task force recommends considering East Carolina University’s Accelerate Rural NC program as a template for university-based support.” This type of independent support along with early indicators of client outcomes demonstrates the value of this program.

Student Consulting

The student consulting program remains a strength of the Crisp Center. In the spring semester, regional companies received specialized consulting assistance from student-led teams, including a project led by Professor Sharon Justice, a member of our Faculty Alliance Program. In this specific project, students developed a human resource training program for a large boat manufacturer, providing approximately 4,000 hours of assistance. Overall, during the 2020-21 academic year our student teams completed projects for 24 small business clients, accounting for more than 14,000 hours of fieldwork.

High-impact Workshops

As part of the North Carolina Economic Developer Certificate Program, training was offered on how to best integrate entrepreneurship and small business into an overall economic development strategy. This two-day workshop focused on effectively leveraging assets within an entrepreneurial ecosystem. Additional Crisp Center workshops focused on providing assistance for the NC Idea Grant and financial management to members of the Young Farmers and Ranchers program.

Executive Farm Management

The Crisp Center, in partnership with NC State, University of Georgia, and Clemson, offered a webinar series and boot camp to help large-scale farmers deliver greater value to their customers. This spring the program included participants from seven states, including farmers from as far away as Texas and Michigan.

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• Miller School of Entrepreneurship