[kislideshow kirotate=”true”][kislideshowslide kiimageurl=”https://ncgrowth.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/2015MackeysFerry.jpg”]Joyce Moore, Jessie Maxwell and Sharon Smith outside of E-TAP client Mackey’s Ferry Peanuts[/kislideshowslide][kislideshowslide kiimageurl=”https://ncgrowth.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/2015CarolCreechPromotions.jpg”]Beth Hughey and Drew Haley get started on a new accounting system for Carol Creech Promotions[/kislideshowslide][/kislideshow]
This spring, through NCGrowth’s Entrepreneur Technical Assistance Program (E-TAP), six North Carolina companies will receive assistance from faculty experts, staff and an MBA student analyst. Each company has defined a project that will help them grow and hire new employees from their area. Faculty will provide guidance and review, research services staff will provide data, and NCGrowth staff provide student mentorship, oversight and management. The MBA student analysts have been carefully selected and join each project with the technical skills and the resources to add value to each business.
Carol Creech Promotions is a family-owned business in Wilson that provides promotional items and marketing consulting for businesses, schools and community events. Drew Haley, a
Kenan-Flagler MBA analyst will help co-owner, Beth Hughey update their accounting system.
Carolina Wildest, Inc. (dba Carolina Wild) a muscadine juice company in Pink Hill will enter new online retail channels this spring through E-TAP.
Kenan-Flagler MBA analyst, Thomas Frere will work with company founders Elizabeth Maxwell and Dennis Tracz. Maxwell and Tracz started producing this high end, healthy brand beverage last year and it’s currently in stores in the Northeast. They hope to transform the land that tobacco forgot into the land of the muscadine creating new opportunities in Eastern North Carolina.
Community Innovations, Inc. based in Whiteville will get help exploring growth opportunities. For 28 years, this company has provided person-centered support services to people with disabilities across North Carolina. Ashwini Rathi, a
Kenan-Flagler MBA analyst will work closely with Andy Anderson, President and Hal Jones, CFO. This will be Ashwini’s third E-TAP project since the program began last spring.
InteliPort Fiber, an internet service provider in Eastern North Carolina is looking at bringing a start up incubator and accelerator to Elizabeth City, NC. Clayton Doolittle, a
Kenan-Flagler MBA analyst will work with InteliPort’s president Stephen Lane to evaluate and develop the initial phases of a strategy to replicate in Elizabeth City the successful
GIGTANK project in Chattanooga, TN. The goal is to attract outside businesses to Elizabeth City and drive economic growth in the town through entrepreneurship assistance, seed funding, and use of the FTTx gigabit network that is not common in other areas.
Mackey’s Ferry Peanuts will get an updated e-commerce website through E-TAP. Jessie Maxwell, a
Kenan-Flagler MBA/
Duke Public Policy student will work with Sharon Smith, CEO and Joyce Moore, Kitchen Manager to build out the site and help leverage their social media presence to reach more customers and increase online sales. Mackey’s Ferry Peanuts started in 1983 and uses Eastern North Carolina peanuts to create premium peanut products.
Through a partnership between
East Carolina’s SBTDC and E-TAP, Ferdinand Rouse, an
ECU MBA analyst, will create a bilingual HR policy for
Vanderhorst Enterprises. Vanderhorst Enterprises is a commercial cleaning and maintenance company started in 1998 in Greenville. In addition, Ferdinand will help create slide presentations to be used for contract bidding and for onboarding new employees.
