PRESS RELEASE – December 9, 2021
Contact: Megan Campbell | 864-239-3745 | [email protected]
(Greenville, SC) The Greenville Chamber’s Minority Business Accelerator Upstate program recently graduated 2021 program participants and announced the 2022 class.
The Minority Business Accelerator supports and scales high-potential minority-owned firms by providing targeted training, access to business coaches, and access to large corporations. Participants undergo intensive training for the first six months following the internationally-recognized Interise StreetWise ‘MBA’ curriculum led by instructor Wendell Jones. Then, participants work closely with financial experts, coaches and MBA peers on their three-year Strategic Growth Action Plans and implementation of learnings for the last six months.
Graduating from the 2021 program were 7 local, small business owners:
Shameka Argo, Points of Origin, LLC
Willie Benjamin, Printing Opportunity
Madeline Hawkins, Bloom Behavioral Therapy
Summer Lee, Flying Biscuit Café
Michael Mance, Mance Multimedia, LLC
Dorothy Shain, Dorothy Shain Fine Art LLC
Larandas Yeargin, Silo Media Group
At the December 9th graduation ceremony, Summer Lee received the MBA Excellence Award for her dedication and growth throughout the program.
Several other awards were presented at the ceremony. Scott Whelchel and Louise Connell, both longtime supporters and volunteers with the program, received the MBA Champion Award. South Carolina Small Business Development Corporation received the MBA Partner Award.
The 2022 class will kick-off their program in January:
Ghisela Linette Eljach, InSouth Magazine, LLC
Laura Biggerstaff, Iron Elk, LLC
Tywana Groce, Precision Dental
Bethany Winston, Kidding Around Media
Ebony DeVonne Sullivan, Suagapiehoneybun, LLC
Jeffrey Shippy, JSA Investments LLC
Kimbrelly Kegler, Kegler United, LLC
Lorenzo Bates, 360clean
Jesse Canty, Smokin Wings & Things
Porscha Davis, The Salon by Porscha Danielle
In 2020 the Entrepreneurial Pathways program was created in partnership with South Carolina Small Business Development Center (SBDC) to provide specialized training for those organizations that do not yet qualify for the MBA Upstate program. Many graduates of this program go on to participate in MBA Upstate.
To qualify, businesses must be based in the Upstate, socially or economically disadvantaged (minority, veteran or woman-owned, as well as those serving lower-income communities), and a member of the Greenville Chamber.
In September it was announced that a $500,000 grant from Bank of America would expand the Minority Business Accelerator to the Midlands and Lowcountry markets. The program that has been led by the Greenville Chamber since 2012 will be replicated in the Columbia and Charleston markets in 2022, led by their respective Chambers of Commerce.
Since its inception, the program has graduated more than 120 participants, created 250 new full-time jobs, and participants have seen a combined $26 million in new revenue.
Learn more at www.greenvillechamber.org/mba.
###