Restaurants, brewers, hoteliers, tour companies and retailers were all among the 449 named Paycheck Protection Program beneficiaries with headquarters in Asheville. At least 46 of those entities also received help from the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority to fill needs unmet by the federal loan effort.
During a June 24 meeting, the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority board heard a presentation from marketing firm 360i about a new advertising campaign, scheduled to start in July, designed to attract a “responsible tourist audience” to the region. Ads will target visitors whose behaviors agree with “psychographic statements” about “willingness to conform.”
Funds supported with tax money from Buncombe County, the city of Asheville and the Tourism Development Authority are being managed by the nonprofit Mountain BizWorks. Because of this arrangement, government and TDA officials say they will play no direct role in determining what area businesses and nonprofits receive public dollars.
The new executive order, effective 5 p.m. on Monday, April 13, limits shoppers to 20% of a store’s permitted fire capacity or five customers per 1,000 square feet. High-volume locations such as checkouts must mark six-foot spaces to ensure social distancing in customer lines, and all stores must conduct “frequent and routine environmental cleaning and disinfection of high-touch areas.”
Resourcefulness, hard work and tenacity have proven to be indispensable ingredients for success among many of Asheville’s leading women restaurateurs.
In honor of Xpress’ Dec. 11 Specialty Shops issue, this week’s biz briefs takes a look at news related to small specialty retailers — including a look ahead to sidewalk construction beginning in January on downtown Asheville’s Haywood Street.
On Oct. 31 — over nine months after N.C. Attorney General Josh Stein announced his conditions of approval for the sale of Mission Health to HCA Healthcare — one of those key conditions was met by the naming of Gibbins Advisors as the independent monitor of HCA’s compliance with the deal.
A $940,000 award, to be administered primarily by Asheville-based nonprofit Mountain BizWorks, will fund the newly created Growing Outdoors Partnership, which aims to boost sustainable job growth in the local outdoor gear and recreation industries.
Returning for its second year, Hatch This combines techie business tropes including an accelerator, a hackathon and, of course, a party. The event takes place Friday-Sunday, Nov. 2-4. Participants will compete for $20,000 in prizes, including a $5,000 seed funding package. Also: who’s on the job, a state program to match federal business grants.
Canadian Haakon Industries announced plans to locate a manufacturing facility to build air handling units at Enka Commerce Park. The company says it will employ up to 160 workers within the first five years of operation in Enka. For the fourth time, Montreat College will host a cybersecurity conference.
Three businesses — a float spa, a distillery and cocktail salon, and an immersive art experience — will seek the support of non-accredited investors (that is, regular people), who can purchase equity stakes in companies through crowdfunding campaigns at an event on Thursday, Sept. 20.
Learn more about B-corps, a local business awards program, local movers and shakers and data on Asheville’s economic indicators in our business news in brief from the issue of Sept. 12, 2018.
A local real estate company reports on the area’s hot real estate market, Asheville business folk meet and nonprofit Mountain BizWorks’ efforts get to promote diverse small business ownership get a big boost with a $650,000 funding commitment from Wells Fargo.
A new study sponsored by a coalition of local organizations and funded by Mountain BizWorks and the City of Asheville identifies a long list of markets where Asheville has room for local expansion. The New Economy Coalition hopes to use the study to boost the number of minority-owned businesses in Western North Carolina.
“As Buncombe County voters, we deserve a county commissioner who not only believes in transparency, financial oversight, restoring accountability and trust in our county government, but most importantly, someone who can actually do something about it.”
The new workshop series begins March 15 at The Center for Craft and runs through May.
Along with Morganton’s Industrial Commons, Mountain BizWorks is hosting an educational workshop on cooperative, worker-owned businesses on Wednesday, Aug. 23.
With 45 percent of business owners in Buncombe County alone facing retirement in the next decade, local groups and service providers are encouraging them to start planning for their company’s next chapter, while simultaneously devising ways to turn an impending crisis into an opportunity for employees to shoulder new responsibilities.
A new federal regulation requiring employers to pay workers earning less than $47,476 per year time and a half for overtime could have an outsize impact on the nonprofit sector. Traditionally, many nonprofits have relied on folks who were more interested in following their passion than in earning top dollar or keeping track of hours.
Thirty years is a long time to devote to any pursuit, and Karen Cragnolin, the oft-honored founding mother of RiverLink, can attest to that. During that time, she says she held every job in the organization and was planning to finally move on this year when, during surgery, she suffered an aneurysm that robbed her […]
As more women work toward leadership roles in the local workforce, female business leaders and local organizations are working to provide the encouragement and resources necessary to help them attain equity and advancement in the workplace. Sharing their wealth of experiences, these community leaders are hoping they can lay the groundwork for the next generation of successful women professionals.
