For companies in the eastern part of North Carolina, time is running out to apply for a program designed to help them scale.
The Eastern North Carolina Entrepreneurial Promise – a virtual accelerator for small businesses owned by minorities and women in under-served counties – has an application window that closes July 31.
The program offers up to 15 companies intensive training over a 10-week period, with one-on-one coaching and peer networking. And it is specifically targeted at entrepreneurs in Tier 1 and 2 counties located east of Interstate 95, with less than $250,000 in annual revenues and a desire to scale to $1 million in revenue within five years.
The cohort will be led by business coach Dionne McGee, a veteran of corporate America.
McGee, who made her foray into entrepreneurship after a 25-year corporate career at firms such as Sensus and Verizon, said it’s her opportunity to give back. McGee is a native of Washington in rural coastal North Carolina and said her excitement about the program is born in her ability to pay it forward.
McGee founded her own motivational speech and consultancy firm, DG McGee Enterprises, and wrote a book called “Finding your ROAR.”
“Roar means to be Relentless, Optimistic, Ambitious and Results-driven,” she said. When the National Institute of Minority Economic Development and Partner Community Capital came calling about the Eastern North Carolina Entrepreneurial Promise, McGee said it was right in her wheelhouse. As cohort director of the project, which recently received funding from the NC IDEA Foundation, she’ll help companies scale, meeting twice a week.
“This is what I want to do,” she said. “This is the icing on the cake.”