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Velocity 2024 Business Accelerator Is Now Accepting Applications

Get ready to supercharge your startup! Join the Center for Creative Economy (CCE) for a 10-week program designed to help you turn your creative ideas into successful businesses. With customized curriculum and expert mentors, the Velocity 2024 Business Accelerator is everything you need to rev up your entrepreneurial journey. Participants can expect to: Master the basics of business Strengthen their brand Perfect their pitch And the best part? Participants have a chance to win a share of $20K in seed stage grants. Velocity...

Two More Retail Lab Graduates Open Brick-and-Mortar Stores

Posted in Retail Lab.

The Palmetto Market and Cellar Door Wine Shop are among a growing list of Retail Lab graduates to open brick-and-mortar stores in the area. The Retail Lab was established at the Cabarrus Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship through a partnership between the Small Business Center at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College and the Flywheel Foundation. The program is designed to help early stage and pre-launch retail business owners through a six-week boot camp focusing on business basics, strategy, branding and marketing,...

Retail Lab

Rural Center’s NCInvest Invests $32M In 10 Venture Capital Funds

Posted in Press Releases, Small Business Resources.

Investments Represent Unprecedented Access to Capital for Socially and Economically Disadvantaged Entrepreneurs Throughout North Carolina RALEIGH, N.C., March 01, 2024 — The NC Rural Center announced today that it has invested $32 million in 10 venture capital funds from across the United States, through its NCInvest initiative. NCInvest is funded by the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI), a $10 billion venture capital and debt lending initiative managed by the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury)....

NC Rural Fund, Small Business Funding

NC IDEA Foundation to Kick Off Spring 2024 Grants Cycle with Info Sessions Throughout the State

Posted in Our Partners.

Seeking Applications from Innovative Startups for NC IDEA MICRO and NC IDEA SEED Starting January 29th NC IDEA, a private foundation committed to supporting entrepreneurial ambition and economic empowerment in North Carolina, announced today that the organization will kick off its Spring 2024 Grants Cycle with information sessions throughout the state. The sessions will highlight NC IDEA’s two upcoming grant opportunities supporting ambitious, growth-oriented companies: NC IDEA MICRO awards small, project-based...

MICRO Grant, NC IDEA, NC IDEA Grants, SEED Grant

Fall 2023 Retail Lab Graduates 9 Local Entrepreneurs

Posted in Press Releases, Retail Lab.

Nine local entrepreneurs celebrated their completion of the Fall 2023 Retail Lab Boot Camp—a program tailored to address the complex nature of starting and operating a retail establishment. The graduates of Retail Lab completed an application-based, six-week immersive boot camp, which concluded with the opportunity to pitch for grant funding. This cohort featured regional ventures, including a wine shop, innovative clothing brands, an international gift shop, and delicious food items. All participants in the program...

Flywheel Coworking, Retail Lab, Small Business Center at RCCC

Health Equity Innovation Challenge Winners Showcase Progress and Vision at Cabarrus Center Pitch Round Robin

Posted in Our Partners, Press Releases.

Winners of the inaugural Health Equity Innovation Challenge are halfway through their accelerator and recently spent the day in Concord, NC at the Cabarrus Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship participating in a rapid-fire pitch round robin. The Challenge, sponsored by Atrium Health and administered by the Flywheel Foundation, is a business idea competition for scalable and investable solutions to problems that lead to or create significant healthcare outcome disparities. Founders Pictured: Kwamane Liddell...

Health Equity Innovation Challenge

The Ultimate Startup Experience is Coming to Cabarrus County!

Posted in Our Partners.

ConvergeSouth, the ultimate startup experience, is coming to the Cabarrus Center in downtown Concord on October 5-6, 2023. The event features two full days of entrepreneurial programming, including: Expert-led breakout sessions Startup expo with 75 exhibiting companies Investment firms from across the Southeast ConvergeSouth has taken place in Winston-Salem for several years, but is bringing the popular event to downtown Concord this year. It attracts hundreds of attendees who come to focus on growing their startups...

The Cabarrus Center Retail Lab Graduates 14 Local Entrepreneurs, Awards 5 Grants

Posted in Press Releases, Programs, Retail Lab.

Fourteen local entrepreneurs are celebrating their graduation from the Retail Lab Boot Camp—a program created in 2021 to address the complex nature of starting and operating a retail establishment. The 14 graduates of Retail Lab completed an application-based, six-week immersive boot camp on May 3. The following week, twelve of the graduates chose to pitch for members of the Entrepreneurship Council for $2,500 micro-grants. Five of the twelve were successfully awarded the grants. Olivia Van Etten, founder of Blondie...

Retail Lab Boot Camp

Cabarrus Center Retail Lab Graduates 14 Local Entrepreneurs, Awards 5 Micro-Grants

Posted in Cabarrus Center News, Press Releases, Programs, Retail Lab.

Fourteen local entrepreneurs have completed the Fall 2022 Retail Lab Boot Camp—a program established in 2021 to address the complex nature of starting and operating a retail establishment. Entrepreneurs from Cabarrus, Rowan and Mecklenburg counties participated in the program, completing the application-based, six-week immersive boot camp in early November 2022. Five of the graduates were also awarded $2,500 micro-grants after pitching for the members of the Cabarrus Center’s Entrepreneurship Council. Juan Irby,...

Retail Lab Boot Camp, Retail Lab Pop Up Store

Author:

Velocity 2024 Business Accelerator Is Now Accepting Applications

Two More Retail Lab Graduates Open Brick-and-Mortar Stores

Rural Center’s NCInvest Invests $32M In 10 Venture Capital Funds

NC IDEA Foundation to Kick Off Spring 2024 Grants Cycle with Info Sessions Throughout the State

Fall 2023 Retail Lab Graduates 9 Local Entrepreneurs

Health Equity Innovation Challenge Winners Showcase Progress and Vision at Cabarrus Center Pitch Round Robin

The Ultimate Startup Experience is Coming to Cabarrus County!

The Cabarrus Center Retail Lab Graduates 14 Local Entrepreneurs, Awards 5 Grants

Cabarrus Center Retail Lab Graduates 14 Local Entrepreneurs, Awards 5 Micro-Grants

Accelerating Local
Economic Development

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Accelerating LocalEconomic Development

Find Us

Contact Us

Accelerating Local
Economic Development