Fayetteville State University's Fayetteville-Cumberland Regional Entrepreneur and Business Hub has helped to launch numerous businesses, generating jobs and opportunities for people in Fayetteville and surrounding areas since its inception in September 2022.
Tamara Colvin, executive director of the business hub at Bronco Square, across Murchison Road from Fayetteville State University’s main campus, said that the 6,500-square-foot hub has evolved into a "one-stop shop" where members of the community can receive essential tools and training needed to start and maintain a business. She added that in less than two years since opening, the hub has helped create 71 new businesses, adding more than 490 new jobs in Bladen, Columbus, Cumberland, Harnett, Hoke, Moore, Richmond, Robeson, Sampson and Scotland counties. Colvin could not provide examples of these businesses due to confidentiality reasons.
"We have become a support system for these small businesses to be able to grow and thrive," Colvin said Wednesday.
Small business counseling
Colvin said the business hub is not an incubator, as they have resource partners that assist businesses inside the hub, such as the Veterans Business Outreach Center and Small Business Technology Development Center. Instead, through its small business advisers and counselors, the hub assists new business owners by helping them navigate paperwork, credentials, certifications and general questions they may have.
"Since the start of the hub in September of 2022, we have helped over 71 new businesses launch throughout our region, and those businesses are very diverse, from consulting services, manufacturing companies, construction, to hair salons and restaurants," Colvin said.
Colvin said that most residents hear about the hub and its services through the events they organize, such as "how to access more capital" and events centered around learning how to work with the government. She added that many attendees visit an event and are then encouraged to sign up for a counseling appointment for a one-on-one training or counseling session, providing an opportunity to get started with individualized advice at no cost to them.
"A lot of times in how they reach out to us, is from a one-on-one training that they saw on our website or through other partnerships that we have ... and that's how they have the opportunity to get started ... or if they're an existing business or whatever interest that they have on expanding or growing that existing business," Colvin said.
Fayetteville State University's Chancellor Darell T. Allison said last week that the business hub was formerly the FSU bookstore and was converted into what it is today through university investments.
"We wanted to do our part for those budding small business leaders and entrepreneurs that want to make a living here in Fayetteville-Cumberland and the Sandhills region, that we can help them in that regard," Allison said.
Cumberland County and the City of Fayetteville matched the university's $250,000 investment, enabling the university to secure a $1 million allocation from the state of North Carolina for the hub.
"We wanted to make sure that every citizen that is looking to start a business or grow their business, whether it be in Cumberland or the nine surrounding counties in the Sandhills region, that this hub is there for them," Allison said.
Is there a cost to use the Hub?
The business hub offers its resources free of charge to residents within the listed counties, due to government funding.
"Taxpayer dollars have paid for this service to allow them to not have to pay a fee to attend either our training sessions or have a consultation with our small business advisers and counselors," Colvin said.
She said that the Fayetteville-Cumberland Regional Entrepreneur and Business Hub offers a curriculum called Contractor's College that provides contractors with the necessary tools and resources to apply for and execute government contracts. Colvin said that the hub also provides HUD certification classes and financial literacy classes to help residents improve and increase their credit scores, enabling them to access capital for new equipment, hire employees and purchase supplies to grow their businesses.
"Here at the hub, we want to help foster economic prosperity for our community through investing in our small businesses to help them create jobs and generational wealth," Colvin said.
Reporter Lizmary Evans covers growth and development for The Fayetteville Observer. You can reach her at LEvans@gannett.com
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