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E-TAP (Entrepreneur Technical Assistance Program) fall projects wrapping up

This fall has been busy for the NCGrowth team with seven E-TAP (Entrepreneur Technical Assistance Program) and Economic Development and Research Projects in five North Carolina counties. With support from Kenan Institute staff and university experts, graduate student economic development analysts from ECU, NCCU, and UNC devote one semester or longer to each project.  Student analysts will present their final deliverables to the clients at a special event this December at UNC. E-TAP matches experienced MBA student analysts with growing companies to work on a specific, high-impact project.

E-TAP (Entrepreneur Technical Assistance Program)

Student analyst Chris Long is wrapping up his 3rd project with NCGrowth for client LSA America.   Long, a UNC Kenan-Flagler MBA student with accounting banking background, worked with this light sport aircraft manufacturer in Littleton to determine the most appropriate inventory system for the company, and also train employees on how to use the new system. Long has previous experience with inventory systems, and was also able to receive support from Director of Digital Enterprise and Innovation Noel Greis and Kenan-Flagler Operations Professor Vinayak Deshpande. The light sport aircraft industry is relatively new, with  first U.S. sales starting in 2005 after approval from the FAA. LSA America was the US distributor for the Allegro light sport aircraft until buying the Czech company behind the brand. LSA is ramping up production and is set to move out of its space in the Littleton Industrial Building to another facility by the Halifax Regional Airport, hiring 34 workers by the end of 2015.
Ashwini Rathi, a UNC Kenan-Flagler MBA student with a background in architecture and experience in operations, worked with Terra Ceia Farms owner Carl van Staalduinen to evaluate the growth potential of this family business. Terra Ceia Farms, located in Pantego, Beaufort County, is a nursery and mail-order bulb and cut flower farm, founded by the van Staalduinens family in the 1940s after they emigrated from Holland. Today Terra Ceia is a diversified farm with one grandson of the founder managing the grain and corn acres, another handling 300 acres of bulb and cut flower fields, and a third running the mail-order catalog business. Rathi and van Staalduinen worked together on a new business plan and traveled to meet with a customer and potential investor to explore options for growth, as well as conducted research on best areas to expand operations. Rebecca Dunning, Senior Research Scholar Horticultural Science at NC State and Social and Economic Research and Evaluation Project and Research Director, NC Growing Together, provided farming financial data and connections to NCSU weather and climate zone resources. The Kenan Institute’s Pamela Santos advised on the business plan throughout the process.
As part of a new partnership between East Carolina University’s Small Business and Technology Development Center and NCGrowth, NC Waste & Recycling in Goldsboro will get a new HR policy and procedures handbook. Ferdinand Rouse, an ECU MBA student, worked closely this fall with Wes Waller, Operations Director, to formalize the company’s HR program.  Since many of the new employees are native Spanish speakers, NCGrowth retained an undergraduate UNC student with experience translating HR documents, Nelson Sierra Sosa, to translate the handbook for NC Waste & Recycling.
Joanna Furgiuele, a dual UNC Kenan-Flagler MBA and Duke Nicolas School Environmental Management degree candidate, worked with Vonner Horton’s A Pathway to Independence (API) and Epiphany Cosmetics in Windsor, NC. API opened in May to assist underserved women in Bertie County. They offer programming focused on a variety of skill development including job readiness and placement, financial counseling, strategies for healthy living, parent training and support services, transitional housing,  youth mentoring and interpersonal skill development. Inspired in part by Mary Kay, Epiphany is a complete line of cosmetics for women of color. The company is developing a strong online presence and has been successful at vendor shows and events. As they grow, they hope to hire consultants who have passed through the API program.  API and Epiphany Cosmetics strive to nurture and develop women entrepreneurs. Furgiuele developed the content for Epiphany’s first catalogue and an onboarding training manual for new consultants. Kenan Institute’s Jack Walker designed the materials and Pamela Snedden, Librarian for Research Services and Knowledge Management at the Kenan Institute, assisted with market analysis and research.
Read more about our Economic Development and Research Projects this fall.

[kislideshow kirotate="true"] [kislideshowslide kiimageurl="http://www.ncgrowth.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/fallProjects4.jpg"]Chris Long tours LSA America with Doug Hempstead.[/kislideshowslide][kislideshowslide kiimageurl="http://www.ncgrowth.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/fallProjects1.jpg"]Ashwini Rathi and Carl van Staalduinen on the way to meet with a Terra Ceia Farms customer.[/kislideshowslide][kislideshowslide kiimageurl="http://www.ncgrowth.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/fallProjects2.jpg"]LaChaun Banks, Elizabeth Basnight, Wes Waller, Ferdinand Rouse and David Mayo discuss the HR policy handbook for NC Waste & Recycling.[/kislideshowslide][kislideshowslide kiimageurl="http://www.ncgrowth.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/fallProjects3.jpg"]Joanna Furgiuele and Reverend Vonner Horton discuss Epiphany Cosmetics over lunch in Windsor.[/kislideshowslide][/kislideshow]
[kislideshow kititle="2014 Summer Presentations" kirotate="false"][kislideshowslide kiimageurl="http://www.ncgrowth.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Butterfield1.jpg" kiyoutubeid="CbkacO9zJRA"]Watch highlights of our NCGrowth Summer Presentations with Congressman G.K. Butterfield [/kislideshowslide] [/kislideshow]

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