48 promising micro-entrepreneurs in the Clarkston, East Lake and Southside Atlanta communities have completed an extensive mentoring and business training program offered through the Goizueta Business School’s Start:Micro-Entrepreneur Accelerator Program (Start:ME).

Start:ME will celebrate the 48 ventures completing this year’s program with its Entrepreneur Showcase presented by Comcast Business on Tuesday, April 10th.

Where/When: 6:30-8:30 PM, Goizueta Business School, Room 130 East, 1300 Clifton Road on the Emory Campus.  

Visuals: Display areas for entrepreneurs showcasing their products and services, unique foods sourced from local chefs and bakers, pitch presentations from top ventures, and grant investment announcements.

• The program is offered annually by Emory University’s Goizueta Business School in partnership with Friends of Refugees, East Lake Foundation,Focused Community Strategies and Purpose Built Schools of Atlanta.

• Micro-businesses represented in the 2018 Cohorts include traditional foods from Syria; website and digital media service providers, artisan clothing and apparel makers, natural health and beauty producers, pet services providers, local boutique concepts; and more.

• The 14-session accelerator program provides business training, mentorship support, and early-stage financing to promising micro-entrepreneurs (those with 1-4 employees) to develop viable and sustainable businesses. Entrepreneurs supported one another while competing for peer-selected seed investment grants from a $30,000 pool ($10,000 in each community).

Since its inception in 2013, Start:ME has supported more than 150 local businesses and awarded more than 20 working capital investments in the form of loans and grants. Start:ME also engages more than 75 volunteer mentors with significant professional business and/or entrepreneurial experience to provide critical support for entrepreneurs participating in the program.

Visit startmeaccelerator.org for more information.