CIE meets one-on-one with entrepreneurs to coach them for success and offer connections to capital conferences, and knowledge.
Depending on the type of business that you are starting and growing, we might facilitate a connection with an ecosystem partner. Check out the Wilmington Coalition of Entrepreneur and Small Business Resource Providers here.
We might also facilitate connections within UNCW for you, particularly for research or student engagement opportunities. Check out some tips on this page about how to connect to UNCW student interns.
CIE offers Entrepreneur Capacity Building funds to spark the ability for entrepreneurs to get started on their idea. The funds that we have vary and are dependent on gifts and funding from our partners.
The Idea Test Lab is a 4-week, cohort-based program designed to enable you to determine if there is business value in an idea. Each session focuses on different entrepreneurial design topics such as value proposition, identifying the customer's problem, competition, and market analysis.
Specifically for CIE tenants, coworkers, and high-impact CIE members, the Founders Roundtable is a facilitated monthly meeting of the highest potential entrepreneurs in southeast North Carolina.
Every Wednesday at 9 a.m., entrepreneurs and the community gather at CIE to hear from an entrepreneur or two and to provide suggestions and connections to help them.
1 Million Cups is about connecting, educating, and inspiring entrepreneurs and the community through a million cups of coffee. The 1 Million Cups Wilmington chapter meets at CIE. Zoom and Facebook live options are available as well.
If you are an entrepreneur and have been in business less than 5 years, please visit the website and apply to present.
To see past entrepreneur presenters at 1MC Wilmington, visit CIE's Youtube Channel for 1MC Wilmington here.
The CIE Mentor Program assists both campus- and community-based ventures by engaging a team of professionals to guide them through their next business milestone. Most mentor teams work with early stage startups that could be or are becoming scalable.
Learn more about the CIE Mentor Program here. CIE Mentors meet monthly to determine if they will form a team for applications received from startups. If a team is formed, they work with the founder by meeting monthly for six months. Contact cie@uncw.edu to apply for a CIE Mentor Team.
Hustle n Harvest is a pre-Celerator for Southeast NC. It provides a guide to founders for scaling their ventures. A series of videos by entrepreneurs and ecosystem builders guides participants through the Lean Business Canvas as a roapmap to success for scaling and obtaining investment.
This program was developed by the Network for Entrepreneurs in Wilmington in partnership with CIE, the Thomas Hub for Entrepreneurship at UNCP, and Genesis Block with a grant from NC IDEA.
Take the online course any time. (It's free!)
The CIE Consultant Portfolio Services program offers one-on-one consulting to prepare entrepreneurs for success in presenting to investors, applying for competitive accelerators and seeking grants. Entrepreneurs with innovative ventures planning to present to investors or applying for competitive programs or grants (including NC IDEA SEED and MICRO grants) are encouraged to request Consultant Portfolio Program services.
Originally brought in for his program PerfectPitch, a training seminar to help entrepreneurs develop and effectively present to investors and to work individually with four entrepreneurs. Chris Mather quickly became the CIE’s ‘go-to’ resource for entrepreneurs preparing for any type of competitive presentation.
Chris is president of Leveragent, a consulting firm that offers fractional executive services, designs entrepreneurial development programs, provides exit strategy planning, and delivers training programs to help entrepreneurs deliver effective presentations. Chris was formerly a regional advisor for Jumpstart Community Advisors, president of JumpStart TechLift Advisors, and vice president – entrepreneurship for NorTech.
Entrepreneur Cathy Maready captures how portfolio clients benefit from this program:
"I cannot tell you how much I have appreciated, but more importantly, learned from Chris as a coach for my start-up with Vavaroom. His attention to all details, both large and seemingly minute, made it possible for me to be able to consolidate thoughts, numbers and theories that were so needed to present to a larger audience. The skills I learned not only helped me in a presentation to NC IDEA/SOAR, but they continue to help me in interactions with prospective investors and customers."
The goal of Startup EQ is to prepare entrepreneurs to recognize and restore their energy, develop the ability to have healthy conversations, create sustainable cultures, and create startups that last. This program is about helping founders to lead themselves, lead their business, and lead others.
Startup EQ is a program of Go-od Consulting that was initially piloted in April 2022 with funding from NC IDEA and in partnership with Network for Entrepreneurs in Wilmington (NEW) and the Thomas Hub at UNC Pembroke.
This program will be run again in starting in November 2023 with funding from the City of Wilmington in partnership with Channel powered by Live Oak Bank. Please visit the Startup EQ page with information about how to apply.
Each January, a program is held for entrepreneurs and community members to allow them to "intentionally" develop a customized plan for the year to focus on what matters most to them. It is recognized that founders are more than "just" their startup and that for long-term viability and success, a life in balance is needed to start and scale high-impact ventures. Considering our career, financial, health, family, intellectual, spiritual, and community, we can determine where to focus energy for maximizing personal impact and maintaining important relationships. An implementation and accountability plan are developed, and the facilitator offers to meet one-on-one mid-year with the participants as a check-in.
CIE's Startup Weekend is a high-energy, weekend-long event that provides attendees opportunities to engage with like-minded individuals and potentially start something GREAT. It's a dynamic and immersive experience that fosters creativity, teamwork, and innovation in a short timeframe.
In the past, CIE has organized the Youth Summit for UNCW. We are actively seeking sponsors so we can hold this program in 2025.
The Coastal Entrepreneur Awards, a joint effort of CIE and the Greater Wilmington Business Journal, honors standout startup companies and businesses that keep innovating in the Cape Fear region each year.
Who would you invest $100,000 in? Applications for the Coastal Entrepreneur Awards open in February. Get prepared to nominate a business. Ten to eleven category winners will be selected in areas such as film, hospitality, manufacturing & distribution, minority-owned, nonprofit, professional services, real estate, and technology. At the Coastal Entrepreneur Award celebration, an overall winner is announced that wins the coveted CEA surfboard made by Kids Making It that is passed from winner to winner each year in the region.
For a week in November which is National Entrepreneurship Month, ecosystem partners across the Wilmington region have programs for entrepreneurs and small businesses. GEW Wilmington supports and inspires entrepreneurs and showcases the best of our region. Learn more about the range of events during GEW Wilmington on the website.
Throughout the year, CIE interfaces with the national GEW organizers as the community organizer as an entrepreneurial ecosystem building activity.
Entrepreneur Day is a day coordinated by CIE to connect entrepreneurs with high school classrooms. Entrepreneur Day is held during Global Entrepreneur Week Wilmington.
Mentor Madness is a fast-paced, caffeinated speedmentoring program to connect startup and scaleup entrepreneurs with expert advisors. Entrepreneurs meet one-on-one with three to four mentors during this fun event, which is held during Global Entrepreneurship Week Wilmington.
While the above services are available to BlueTech Entrepreneurs as High-Impact innovators, there are additional programs available them as described here.
Propel offers participants in the shellfish mariculture industry a business incubator curriculum and process to assist growers through the stages of business launch and growth. This fully online business
training series presents new growers with concepts and challenges of business ownership unique to shellfish growers. This program also provides resources that can be used after the course has been
completed.
Propel was created because of a need for:
1. Increased finance and business support for the shellfish growing community
2. Growing complexity in finance and business support
3. Increasing shellfish cultivation in more remote locations
Additional information about this online course, which is available any time, is on this webpage. To sign up, email cie@uncw.edu. (It's free!)
All Blue is a local, multidisciplinary initiative to establish Wilmington and southeast North Carolina as a national and global leader in the Blue Economy.
A global index was created to measure the performance of the oceans and waterways with a focus on the environment. This Index will give investors access to growing impact of this economy, while giving UNCW students a learning experience for managing this index and reporting on the blue economy. Read more about this new Index here.
The Ocean Innovation Conference connects innovation, entrepreneurship, blue economy, and blue mind. Learn more about the Ocean Innovation Conference here.
Every Wednesday in June, bluetech and blue economy entrepreneurs present information about their startups and organizations during 1 Million Cups Wilmington as part of World Ocean’s Day. This program helped the entrepreneur, and also helped the community participants understand the scope of the blue economy in the region.
Many of the above listed programs are relevant for UNCW students who are interested in starting and scaling businesses. CIE also offers employment and networking opportunities for UNCW students. Visit the UNCW Student Connections page for additional information.
We offer these annual student-centered programs as well:
Did you know that there are programs and resources throughout campus that help you to learn about entrepreneurship and give you tools to succeed as a student entrepreneur? Participate in our annual Scavenger Hunt to explore the entrepreneurial resources on campus and enter to win prizes!
UNCW student entrepreneurs have an opportunity to pitch business ideas for cash in the Seahawk Innovation Challenge, which is held during the Fall semester each year. This competition is led by the UNCW Cameron Management Department and supported by CIE and the CIE Mentors.
Whether you are interested in helping the next generation of entrepreneurs, advancing innovation, infusing sustainability in business ventures, or simply being part of the excitement of CIE programs and operations, there is something for you. The most common volunteer programs are listed below. If you're interested in volunteering, contact us at cie@uncw.edu.
The CIE Mentor Program assists both campus- and community-based ventures by engaging a team of professionals to guide them through their next business milestone. Most mentor teams work with early stage startups that could be or are becoming scalable.
Learn more about the CIE Mentor Program here. If you are interested in becoming a CIE Mentor, visit this webpage.
The Alliance for the Blue Economy ("All Blue") is a local, multidisciplinary initiative to establish Wilmington and the southeast North Carolina as a national and global leader in the Blue Economy. A core part of the mission is to support high-impact entrepreneurs and innovators who are working on blue economy solutions.
All Blue meets monthly, works in subcommittees to accomplish goals, and shares information to advance knowledge. All Blue has made several significant accomplishments such as the Blue Economy Index, Ocean Innovation Conference, and Shellfish Mariculture Propel.
Organizing this weekly networking event takes a village, from identifying, preparing, and marketing the weekly entrepreneurial speakers, to the logistics of hosting the meeting such as room set up, virtual room hosting, welcoming newcomers, and more! Show up on Wednesdays at 9 a.m. and see how you can play an important part to help keep this program running smoothly each week.
As a university-based center, CIE engages with a variety of partners regionally, statewide, and nationally to elevate our entrepreneurs, innovators, and region. A few examples of regular collaborations include NC IDEA, NC TECH, and GEN. Regional program initiatives are also listed below.
If you don't see the exact program or event for you, no worries! CIE collaborates with partners across the region to ensure that all entrepreneurs in our region succeed. Check out the Coalition website for a list of regional partners and the list of this month's events to help entrepreneurs and small businesses succeed.
Ecosystem Technology, or ‘ecotech,’ is an emerging and solutions-based branch of applied science that uses living ecosystems and their derivatives to produce and enhance products and processes. CIE is one of the leads of this NSF Prospective Engine that aims to develop a pipeline for translating use-inspired innovations into marketable products while developing a robust regional workforce.
All Blue is a local, multidisciplinary initiative to establish Wilmington and southeast North Carolina as a national and global leader in the Blue Economy.
A global index was created to measure the performance of the oceans and waterways with a focus on the environment. This Index will give investors access to growing impact of this economy, while giving UNCW students a learning experience for managing this index and reporting on the blue economy. Read more about this new Index here.
Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
803 South College Road
Wilmington, NC 28403-5676
Regular Hours
Monday to Friday - 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Saturday and Sunday - Closed