CHARLOTTE, N.C./May 3, 2017 – Johnson C. Smith University’s FreshStart program created an opportunity for 11 freshmen students to learn about tech-entrepreneurship as a career opportunity during their spring break, March 12-16, 2018.
The students attended workshops on Idea Generation, Customer Discovery, Business Model Development and Venture Capital, and analyzed business cases to enhance their understanding of tech-entrepreneurship. They visited entrepreneurs at Pitch Breakfast, Innovate Charlotte, Black Tech Charlotte and the American Underground to understand the entrepreneurial journey and the start-up landscape in Charlotte and Durham.
“FreshStart enhanced students’ social capital, intellectual capital and cultural capital, which are the foundations for building sustainable, high-growth enterprises,” said Terik Tidwell, JCSU's director of STEM Innovation. The inaugural FreshStart cohort is part of the Access-to-Innovation initiative which bridges the density of networks with innovation capacity for Black and Latino students.
The project was supported by Kenan Charitable Trust, Google, VentureWell, Innovate Charlotte, and American Underground. Tidwell; Sherese Duncan, instructor for marketing and entrepreneurship; and Rosalind Moore, project manager for the Library Entrepreneurship Research Hub, facilitated the program.