Info session on startup grants offered at The Collider
NC IDEA, a private foundation that supports entrepreneurship and economic advancement in North Carolina, will host an informational session on its 26th SEED grant cycle on Thursday, Aug. 16, at 5 p.m. at The Collider, 1 Haywood St., Asheville.
SEED provides $50,000 grants to startups based in the state, and those looking to relocate to North Carolina, typically between proof of concept and profitability. The grant application will be available online from Monday, Aug. 20, through Monday, Sept. 10.
For more information about NC IDEA SEED or to register for the information session, visit avl.mx/57b.
Chamber to host elected officials reception Aug. 16
Rub elbows with more than 20 local elected officials and other community leaders at the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, Aug. 16, 5:30-7 p.m. at 36 Montford Ave. The event is free and open to the public.
African-American Business Association to hold first meeting
The first meeting of the newly forming African-American Business Association will take place on Tuesday, Aug. 21, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. at the Arthur R. Edington Education & Career Center, 133 Livingston St., Asheville. The meeting will include a workshop presented by the Western Women’s Business Center on lead generation and client acquisition through relationship building. Lunch is included; the event is free.
The second meeting of the association will take place on Tuesday, Sept. 18, and will focus on protecting your business from financial fraud.
To register, contact Jasmine Hanks at jhanks@carolinasmallbusiness.org or 828-633-5065, or visit www.carolinasmallbusiness.org/events.
What’s news
- Oppenheimer & Co. hired Bill Pomeroy as branch manager of Oppenheimer’s Asheville office.
- Kellen Griffin joined HomeTrust Bank as Bank at Work sales officer.
- Max Rose, owner of Asheville’s Four Seasons Plumbing, was featured on NPR’s Morning Edition as part of a story focused on the labor market, a lack of wage growth and what’s important to both employees and employers these days.
- Johnson Price Sprinkle PA Shareholder J. Scott Hughes was elected to the N.C. Association of Certified Public Accountants Board of Directors.
- The Children’s Home Society of North Carolina has opened an Asheville office at 19 Zillicoa St. in the historic Homewood building. CHS invites the community to a a grand opening celebration on Wednesday, Aug. 22, 5-6:30 p.m.
Kudos
- Charles Nembhard, owner of Charley King’s Jamaican Jerk Sauces in Black Mountain, received a 2018 Small Business of the Year award from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services’ Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services.
- Nonprofit IFB Solutions Asheville recently produced its 500,000th spring-powered stapler. The staplers are totally put together by employees who are blind.
- Benjamin C. Hamrick, CEO and shareholder of Johnson Price Sprinkle PA, received the CPA Pinnacle Award from the N.C. Association of Certified Public Accountants on July 31.
Outdoor industry conference comes to WCU on Oct. 5
Western North Carolina’s outdoor industry will be the focus of a conference at Western Carolina University in Sylva on Friday, Oct. 5, 8 a.m.-5:30 p.m. at the university’s A.K. Hinds University Center.
Keynote addresses, panel discussions and breakout sessions will explore topics of interest to regional outdoor businesses. An expo from 1:30-5:30 p.m. will feature representatives of area community colleges, nonprofits and other organizations that support the outdoor industry.
Early registration for the conference is available for a reduced cost of $99 through Friday, Aug. 31, and registration is $159 thereafter. Students can attend the conference for $39.
For more information, visit outdoor.wcu.edu or contact Arthur Salido, WCU’s executive director of community and economic engagement and innovation, at 828-227-2587 or salido@wcu.edu.
Terrible graph. You should have included more years of data. The quarterly year-year change % is misleading. Including 2015 data would have been helpful.