The Greenville Chamber announced Sept. 13 it received a $500,000 grant from Bank of America to expand its Minority Business Accelerator statewide.
This yearlong program works to support and scale high-potential minority-owned firms by providing targeted training, as well as access to business coaches and large corporations. Participants leave the program with a three-year strategic growth action plan to guide their development.
The Minority Business Accelerator will be led by the Greenville, Charleston and Columbia chambers.
“Together with the Charleston, Columbia, and Greenville Chamber organizations, we are working to do our part to support minority-owned businesses and we hope to encourage others as well,” said Bank of America South Carolina president Kim Wilkerson. “Here in South Carolina, Bank of America remains focused on creating opportunity in the areas of jobs, training, and workforce development as these areas are where systemic, long-term gaps have existed and where significant change is required to achieve sustainable progress.”
The program has existed in the Upstate through the Greenville Chamber since 2012. It is open to socially or economically underrepresented businesses including those that are minority-owned, woman-owned or veteran-owned. Participants must have at least one other full-time employee and must also be headquartered in South Carolina.
All three chambers will begin recruiting participants this fall and all three programs are set to launch in January 2022.
In addition, the Greenville Chamber announced its annual award recipients at its 132nd Annual Meeting on Sept. 14 at Fluor Field.
The recipients were:
- WYFF-TV anchor Jane Robelot DeCarvalho – The ATHENA Leadership Award
- Greenville Drive owner Craig Brown, – The Buck Mickel Leadership Award
- Southern First chief banking officer Cal Hurst – The 2020 Chairman’s Award
- Legacy Early College founder and board chair William Brown – The F. Ben Haskew Collaboration Award
- Meals on Wheels Greenville executive director Catriona Carlisle – The Leadership Greenville Distinguished Alumni Award
- Harvest Hope Food Bank programs and agency relations manager Autumn Shearin – The Max Heller Neighborhood Improvement Award
- Paveway Express Ltd Co. – The Minority Business of the Year Award
- High Spirits Hospitality – The 2020 Small Business of the Year Award
- Furman University assistant controller Casey Minor – The Young Professional of the Year Award
For more information, visit greenvillechamber.org
