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Area agency teams with ARDI, Enterprise
Center
By Caroline Monday
WAMY (Watauga, Avery, Mitchell, Yancey) Community Action
and the Appalachian Regional Development
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WAMY and the Appalachian Enterprise
Center hosted a Business Idea Expo to promote and support
the development of small businesses in the High Country.
Photo by Caroline Monday
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Institute hosted a Business Idea Expo last Thursday, June 26,
at the Appalachian Enterprise Center.
The agencies invited small business owners or those interested
in starting a small business to come and learn from business experts
and fellow small business owners.
The event also served as an opportunity for several community
groups to connect participants with the resources they offer for
small businesses.
WAMY offers a micro enterprise program, which serves individuals
with small businesses or who are interested in starting small
businesses with funding and technical assistance.
Micro-loan director Catherine Bare said the program can provide
funding in amounts ranging from a few hundred dollars to $10,000.
These loans can finance inventory, equipment or working capital
for new business or for existing businesses that wish to expand.
This program works toward WAMY’s goal to alleviate poverty
through promoting individual and family self-sufficiency. Bare
noted that with the loss of industry in the area, “people
are really struggling to make ends meet.”
The micro-loan program helps individuals support themselves by
creating their own sources of income.
For more information, contact WAMY at (828) 264-2421.
Julia Rowland, assistant director of Appalachian State University’s
Center for Entrepreneurship, said the center works to foster small
business development in the area. The center’s participation
in the expo works toward its goal of making the services it offers
available to the whole community, not just the university.
Rowland said the center hopes to expand people’s idea of
what entrepreneurship is. It can be a business in the traditional
sense, but the term can also be applied to nonprofits or charitable
events, arts and theater, and camps, she said.
The center offers events that are open to the entire community,
such as Start Your Own Business Workshops, an annual entrepreneurship
summit and an annual Pitch Your Idea in 90 Seconds contest.
For more information, contact the Center for Entrepreneurship
at (828) 262-6196 or online at entrepreneurship.appstate.edu.
Expo participants also had the opportunity to learn about other
resources in the community, such as HighCountrybiz.com, a Web
site devoted to providing information to small businesses and
to connecting them with other organizations.
The Appalachian Enterprise Center itself offers a variety of opportunities
for small businesses, including low-cost office space. SCORE,
the Service Corps of Retired Executives, uses the facility to
assist fledgling businesses with the expertise of their group
of experienced business executives.
The center is located at 130 Poplar Grove Connector in Boone.
For more information, call (828) 264-1613.
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