Business Acceleration

Practical AI, Real Results: Bringing AI to Rural Business

Oct 1, 2026 • News & Media • 3 min read

For many small and rural businesses, keeping up with emerging technology can feel less like an opportunity and more like a challenge. While larger organizations often have access to dedicated training, tools, and technical support, smaller firms are frequently asked to adapt with far fewer resources. This summer, NCGrowth worked to help close that gap through the AI for Small and Rural Businesses Cohort — a practical, accessible learning experience designed for nontechnical business owners exploring how artificial intelligence can support day-to-day operations and long-term growth.

EXTRA, EXTRA…WESTERN NC NEWS

Oct 1, 2026 • News & Media • 4 min read

Some of the most promising projects in Western North Carolina begin with a simple conversation: a business owner, community leader, or local partner saying, “We’ve got an idea, but we’re not quite sure how to make it happen.” That is often where NCGrowth’s work begins. This quarter, NCGrowth is partnering with businesses and communities across the region on projects that support small-business growth, strengthen local planning, and help communities move ideas toward implementation. From financial strategy and wholesale expansion to downtown reuse planning and retail market analysis, the work reflects a common goal: helping Western North Carolina build stronger local economies with solutions shaped by local needs. NCGrowth is also working with a cohort of regional businesses preparing for post-Helene opportunities, with a focus on recovery, resilience, and long-term growth.

Yellow Flower Healing Expands Vision for Rural Wellness and Tourism

Aug 7, 2026 • News & Media • 2 min read

In Williamston, where fields stretch toward the horizon and history lingers in the soil, Yellow Flower Healing is cultivating something rare: a business built not only to earn revenue, but to restore people, place and possibility.

Prometheus Comes to Main Street

Aug 6, 2026 • News & Media • 5 min read

It was one of those routine days at work when I found my colleague Dr. Darlene Deberry lost in thought, staring outside the window, just beside her cubicle. Winter is long gone, and the spring blossoms are still trying to cling to the winter’s chill, in a last desperate attempt...

From Setbacks to Staying Power: Chill Cereal Bar’s Asheville Story

Aug 6, 2026 • News & Media • 2 min read

When Patricia Waters talks about Chill Cereal Bar, she talks about grit.The Asheville entrepreneur says the idea for her business came from her son, Elijah Cox, when he was just 13 years old. One day, he asked to pull out all the cereal at home and suggested they open a cereal bar. For Waters, the moment sparked more than a business concept; it launched an entrepreneurial journey rooted in family, faith, imagination and determination.