KHIC hires director for its Center for Entrepreneurial Growth
Tuesday February 17, 2009
LONDON, Ky. – Kentucky Highlands Investment Corporation has named Jim Carroll as the director for its Center for Entrepreneurial Growth.
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Carroll is an
entrepreneur from Louisville
who founded BBR Wireless Management, which was named Start Up of the Year in
2003 by Greater Louisville Inc., and has worked for Fortune 100 companies.
BBR Wireless Management customers included Fortune 500 companies such as Nike, Ryder and United Airlines.
He currently is an executive vice president for Rivermine, which merged with BBR Wireless. Carroll led the company to more than $150 million in annual wireless expenses under management and maintained the company's highest operating margins -- consistently exceeding 50 percent. Rivermine remains one of only three companies that have received the highest rating for customer service and product quality from Gartner Group, which is the world's leading information technology research and advisory company.
Carroll has more than 20 years of experience with technology companies and is a published author and widely quoted in industry publications such as Wireless Week, RCRWireless and eWeek.
"Jim is the strategic leader we need to recruit, grow and develop entrepreneurial businesses in our 22-county service area," said Jerry Rickett, president & CEO of Kentucky Highlands. "Homegrown businesses are the key to the future economic development and well-being of the region. But they need mentoring and coaching to be successful. KHIC is putting together the tools necessary to fuel that growth."
The Center for Entrepreneurial Growth currently includes a small business incubator in London that can house four companies. It focuses on technology businesses or those that leverage technology. Business owners receive coaching and mentoring from experienced entrepreneurs, have access to advisers during the development process, participate in a formal entrepreneur management development training program, and have access to capital if their businesses meet certain milestones.
The CEG, which is a partnership between KHIC and Tech2020, also holds entrepreneurial training sessions. Nationally, eight in 10 start-up operations fail for three main reasons - lack of capital, lack of management experience and lack of understanding the market and business model. The CEG seeks to ensure that entrepreneurs have the knowledge and tools to overcome those hurdles.
"Jim brings years of accumulated entrepreneurial experience to the director's job," said Ray Moncrief, executive vice president and chief operating officer of KHIC. "He will be able to provide real-life experiences to the entrepreneurs he mentors in the program. We are very fortunate to have someone with Jim's experience, integrity and energy to assume the role as the first director of the Center of Entrepreneurial Growth."
Carroll will be responsible for developing entrepreneurial business training and running KHIC's small business incubator, which will be expanding.
Last fall, KHIC announced that it has received a $1,080,000 grant from the federal Economic Development Administration to help fund the business incubator in London, which will be called the Kentucky Highlands Business Accelerator. The state of Kentucky (the Cabinet Economic Development, Energy and Environment Cabinet, and Department of Local Government), Jackson Energy and the Appalachian Regional Commission also have partnered with KHIC on the incubator.
It is being be built on a one-acre site adjacent to KHIC's offices and will include 9,600 square feet of product development, office and laboratory space for area entrepreneurs.
KHIC projects the incubator will assist 16 businesses, help create 127 new jobs and generate $6 million in private investment during the first five years.
The incubator, which should be in operation in late fall 2009, will assist entrepreneurs of startup companies by offering programs and training to help them execute their business opportunities.
"This is a calling as much as it is a job," Carroll said. "It's an exciting opportunity that will allow me to use my experience as an entrepreneur and in the corporate world to help other entrepreneurs achieve their dreams.
"In the current economic times, there also are folks who may be underemployed or unemployed who would like to explore the possibility of becoming their own boss."
Carroll will start his new position March 2.
Kentucky Highlands Investment Corporation, founded in 1968 to stimulate economic growth in nine counties in Southern and Eastern Kentucky, now serves 22 counties in the region and has created more than 10,000 jobs.