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Date Posted: 3/2/2007
AdvantageWest Economic Development Group announced the launch of the Certified Entrepreneurial Community (CEC) program. CEO Dale Carroll made the announcement to over 600 attendees at the statewide NC Rural Economic Development Center’s Entrepreneurial Summit. Carroll’s announcement began, “AdvantageWest Economic is going to now build on our successful pilot with ARC that led to the Blue Ridge Entrepreneurial Council (BREC) program and the Blue Ridge Angel Investors Network (BRAIN) Corporation by implementing a ‘Certified Entrepreneurial Community’ program throughout our 23-county region. In keeping with the best traditions of our award-winning Certified Industrial Site (CIS) Program we implemented in the mid-90s, CEC will have rigorous standards/criteria. To qualify, a community will need to complete the CEC checklist which in essence is to make their community ‘entrepreneur-ready.’ The checklist will include demonstration of connectivity for e-commerce, access to capital, user-friendly permitting systems, K-12/higher education collaboration, local chamber and EDC commitments, etc. We will attract resources to help match what the community is doing and elevate their exposure through an aggressive marketing campaign.” AdvantageWest is finalizing the CEC program, including key ingredients like telecom broadband connectivity and access to capital for entrepreneurs. BREC Strategic Advisor, David Kemper and AdvantageWest senior staff will lead the efforts in this new initiative.
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