Not being able to hold classes in person isn’t slowing down one of Charlotte's most popular small business capacity building programs. Since 2018, the City of Charlotte has partnered with Living Cities and the City Accelerator Program to offer a seven-month cohort where minority business leaders dedicate their time and energy to learning practical business education in preparation for opportunities with the government and anchor institutions.
In order to adapt to the changes COVID-19 has forced, the program launched its first virtual cohort on Thursday, September 10. Following the same curriculum as before, all classes, seminars, and group meetings transitioned to online learning. “We are hopeful that we may be able to hold the graduation ceremony in person next March,” Jackson shared.
Earlier this year, AMP Up! offered the Alumni Webinar Series, after the City of Charlotte held a listening session in March to better understand the needs of past graduates. “The business owners we spoke with were overwhelmed with worry and stress as a result of the COVID-19 health crisis,” shared Nikita Allen, the AMP Up! Charlotte facilitator, “We wanted to offer a way to keep alumni connected and provide relevant content during this unprecedented time.” The series included sessions on leveraging the CARES Act loans, adapting marketing during the pandemic, properly utilizing new technologies to stay connected, and beating the stress that has come with these challenging past few months for small business owners.
For those who are looking to invite strategic growth into their established business, AMP Up! Charlotte leverages the StreetWise ‘MBA’™ from Interise to offer minority business owners the knowledge, management know-how, and networks to grow their small businesses. “The AMP Up! Program sheds new light on how business owners view their business models and processes,” commented Jerrianne Jackson with the City of Charlotte, “By participants learning and engaging with other entrepreneurs, they strengthen their business models and amplify their business strengths.”
Each year, the City launches its cohort in partnership with an anchor institution to allow graduates to learn firsthand from experts in the field. When the program first launched in 2018, it partnered with the National Basketball Association, followed by a partnership with the Charlotte Douglas Airport in 2019. This year, Atrium Health is working with the City throughout this hands-on program as its anchor institution partner.
Each cohort welcomes around 20 new students per program, who meet biweekly for classes over the course of seven months, and spend the other weeks working on assignments within their smaller groups which the instructor breaks them up into. At the beginning of a session, each student completes a business assessment, which will be reassessed based on their strategic growth plan upon graduation from the program. They present this strategic growth plan to a panel of community experts and commit to completing annual assessments for the AMP Up! Program organizers to gauge their individual growth and success in the following three years after graduation.
While monetarily free for participants, the program requires a significant investment of a business owner’s time and energy. Each student allocated five to eight hours each week for individual study before each class session, in addition to those bi-weekly classes. “Once they graduate, AMP Up! Charlotte alumni are urged to stay connected by attending succeeding classes’ graduation and speaking during open house or other recruitment events,” Allen said.
Interested applicants must meet the basic eligibility requirements, including being an ethic minority business owner with 51% or greater ownership of the business with at least one additional employee outside of ownership, and at least $175,000 in annual revenue after being in business for at least two years. Applicants can apply on a rolling basis, with the next cohort intending to launch in May of 2021.
To apply today, visit the AMP UP! Charlotte website or the Charlotte Business Resources website for more information.