The University of Tennessee, Chattanooga’s Urban Vision Institute (UVI), in partnership with LAUNCH, announces the inaugural graduation of its Bootcamp for Entrepreneurs.
UVI’s purpose is to help aspiring entrepreneurs from Chattanooga’s underrepresented communities reach sustainable, predictable and growing profits in their businesses.
The graduation celebration will be held Thursday, November 17 at 6 PM at the Hamilton County Business Development Center (INCubator) at 100 Cherokee Blvd. The reception will be catered by one of this year’s Bootcamp for Entrepreneurs graduates, Kenyatta Ashford of Neutral Ground.
“Our community’s strength and future growth,” said Mike Bradshaw, Entrepreneur in Residence of the Gary Rollins College of Business, Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, “will come from these homegrown ideas. Our goal at UVI is to provide the support of these business owners, be their advocates and mentors so their businesses become successful and we can duplicate that success for others in underrepresented communities.
Completing the Bootcamp milestone is just the beginning of the journey for these nine entrepreneurs. As they grow their businesses, they will be supported by UVI’s strong team of startup community advocates, mentors and supporters who will continue to work with them to stabilize and grow their businesses over the next nine months.
The inaugural class of UVI entrepreneurs includes:
- Veatrice Conely, Unveiled Bridal Studio
- Shawnice Beard, Callie’s Avenue
- Marshun Hardnett, Enchanted Events Chattanooa
- Cardelle Davis, The Transition: Digital Evolving
- Walter Lindey, Unity One East, Inc.
- Marcus Price, Chosen’s Pressure Washing
- Kenyatta Ashford, Neutral Ground
- Calvin Wood’s, Cal’s Headlight Restoration
- Shateria Smith, Simply Props
“The UVI program’s level of resources and the genuine care of helping our businesses to become more successful is amazing”, said Cardell Davis of The Transition: Digitally Evolving. “The different presenters and connections that the program has provided would not have likely been possible to do on my own. This program has been a huge eye opener to me by expanding the way I approach my business.”
LAUNCH Chattanooga is a local nonprofit organization that strives to help women and minorities become entrepreneurs. LAUNCH began in 2010 when local businessmen saw the impact of the recession on the community. The goal was to help encourage job creation by building small businesses and over time became a desire to increase diversity within the business community.