Mission Acceleration Business Accelerator

Take your business to the next level.

A comprehensive business innovation program designed to assist for profit, not-for-profit and family owned businesses to take them to the next level of success and sustainability.

January 6 – May 19, 2021

Registration for the 2021 Program now open.
Registration accepted through January 4, 2021.

Presented by:

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Innovate. Accelerate. Achieve.

Mission Acceleration Business Accelerator is designed by entrepreneurs to help for-profit, family owned, and nonprofit businesses innovate and increase profitability. If you approach the business the same way as you did in the past, it will limit future profit growth. Now is the time to innovate with cutting edge best practices in business management, leadership, planning, branding, marketing, sales, accounting, purchasing, raising capital, information technology, human resources, time management, new business development, operations and distribution. The Program will help you identify Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in each department of your company to track, monitor and accelerate the success of your business. Peter Drucker said, “you can’t manage what you don’t measure.”

For-Profit

Whether your business is a startup (1-3 years old), existing, or in a scale-up phase, Mission Acceleration Business Accelerator can help you innovate and take your business to the next level.

Family Owned

Mission Acceleration Business Accelerator is designed to not only grow your business and increase profitability now, but also help with a family business transition. The skills learned can help the next generation of a family business better prepare for a future business transition.

Nonprofits

According to By Soren Kaplan the author of The Invisible Advantage, “Nonprofits face a fundamental “business” challenge: they’re nonprofits. Most of the 1.5 million US nonprofits don’t support themselves through “competing” by creating and selling better products, services, or business models. They fund-raise, get donations, and find grants. The problem with the typical nonprofit business model is that it’s based on dependence – many nonprofits look for funding every year from unpredictable grants, donations, and even bake sales. But if you’re truly a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, can you really innovate? The answer is yes, and in fact, business model innovation has arrived in the nonprofit sphere. In today’s world, running a nonprofit doesn’t mean eliminating profit from your thinking. Whatever you’re doing to serve the world, you can likely do more of it, in a more predictably sustainable way, by innovating your business model.” The sessions listed below give examples of how the Mission Acceleration Business Accelerator can help your non-profit.

Blue Ridge Community College and the Henderson County Chamber of Commerce have partnered once again to offer the Mission Acceleration Business Accelerator, a five-month, ten-course program.

January 6, 2021 – Session 1:
Business Best Practices and KPI (Key Performance Indicators) Checklist by Department Identifying Opportunities for Acceleration

January 20, 2021 – Session 2:
Management and Leadership

February 3, 2021 – Session 3:
Human Resources, Legal and Insurance

February 17, 2021 – Session 4:
Capital and Purchasing

March 3, 2021 – Session 5:
Competition and Competitive Advantage

March 17, 2021 – Session 6:
Branding, Marketing and Sales

April 7, 2021 – Session 7:
Customer Service and Information Technology

April 21, 2021 – Session 8:
Production, Operations and Distribution

May 5, 2021 – Session 9:
Accounting and Finance

May 19, 2021 – Session 10:
Business Acceleration Plan Presentation and Graduation

Sessions run Wednesdays, from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Cost for the course is $295.

For more information, call Blue Ridge Community College at (828) 694-1779.

Registration for the 2021 Program now open.
Registration accepted through January 4, 2021.

Blue Ridge Online Registration

A Blue Ridge Community College Continuing Education Program

Gary Heisey,
Executive Director Mission Acceleration Business Accelerator

Blue Ridge Community College empowers individuals with knowledge and skills to enrich our communities and build a competitive workforce.

Prior to directing the Mission Acceleration Business Accelerator, a Blue Ridge Community College Continuing Education Program, Gary for eleven years was the award winning Blue Ridge Community College Small Business Director. During this time, he directed the Small Business Center, rated number one SBC training center in North Carolina. Gary personally taught over 600 business seminars and assisting over 1,000 start-up, growth and scale-up companies with management advice, branding, marketing, social media, access to capital and business planning.

Gary has been recognized by:

Small Business Administration
National Association of Entrepreneurship
2016 North Carolina Community College Staff Person of the Year Award
2014 Dr. Molly A. Parkhill Blue Ridge Community Staff Person of the Year
Mountain Bizworks (Currently serves as the Board Chair and on the Lending Committee)
SCORE (Service of Retired Executives)

Prior to being the SBC Director for Blue Ridge Community College, Gary for four years was the Economic Planner for Transylvania County where he assisted the County Economic Development and Planning Department rebrand and position the county after the loss of their large manufacturing base.

For more information, call Blue Ridge Community College at (828) 694-1779.

Blue Ridge Online Registration