NVA’s EDA Grant Delivers “Game-changing” Value
Auburn’s New Venture Accelerator Highlights Benefits to Local Community Businesses
When Auburn’s New Venture Accelerator secured more than $1.3 million in primary and matching grants through the Build to Scale Program administered by the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) two years ago, the NVA set out to use those funds to accelerate local entrepreneurship by increasing access to business support and startup capital for those in Auburn, Alabama and across the surrounding area.
“The entrepreneurship ecosystem at Auburn University has long welcomed students, faculty and employees looking to fulfill their entrepreneurship dreams through the wealth of start-up education and business development programming available through the New Venture Accelerator”, said Ayshia Green-Calloway, grant coordinator. “The EDA grant we’ve been awarded provides opportunities to expand the availability of that expertise to include members of the local community and encourages entrepreneurs to Start in Auburn.”
The results have been “game-changing” for many local area entrepreneurs seeking counsel, direction and value-added resources who are not Auburn University students or faculty.
Squeezing lemons into a legacy
What does the NVA mean to local small businesses looking to expand beyond their initial success?
Just ask Grandma Val, aka Valarie Canady, 63, founder of Grandma Val’s Lemonade, based right here in the Opelika-Auburn area. “Joining the NVA was like an answer to a prayer.”
Grandma Val credits her involvement in Circles Opelika, a community-driven program that works to increase upward mobility for individuals and families in poverty in Opelika, for her introduction to the NVA.
“I was working three jobs at the time and all my children were adult kids with families, but I was just stuck,” says Val. “Through the Circles Opelika program – and my mentor, Dr. Nate Dunlap – I was brought to New Venture Accelerator last year. I was selling gallons of lemonade out of my home when the health department contacted me and told me I had to have a commissary kitchen because my lemonade is made out of fresh fruits. If I was buying canned or bottled fruit juice, it wouldn’t be a problem – but that’s not me. Because Grandma Val’s Lemonade is made out of fresh lemons, I found out I had to have a commissary kitchen and get approval from the health department. So now I have a brick-and-mortar facility that I use as a commissary kitchen of my own.”
“I thank God for the New Venture Accelerator. When I first met with them, they found out I have no business loans. I didn’t understand how to run a proper business, the business licensing aspect, the taxes, etc. The NVA stepped in and my mentors – Lou, Jennifer, Larkin, Ayshia, and Ward – became my biggest fans, but more importantly, they encouraged me, gave me practical advice, and helped me begin to take Grandma Val’s Lemonade to the next level.”
“I’m still not where I want to be,” says Val, “and I still haven’t taken out a business loan. I’m still financing it all myself because at the age of 63, I don’t want to leave a whole lot of debt for my kids, grandkids and great grands. I have four children, 11 grandchildren and two great grands.”
People always talk about turning lemons into lemonade. But I’m trying to take that adage further. I’m on a mission to squeeze lemons into a legacy, something I can build and leave behind to my family when God calls me home.”
Val is looking beyond lemonade, which sells well during the spring, summer and fall here in Auburn, but not so much during the winter months, to help fuel her growth – all with the help of the NVA.
“I’m trying to come up with ideas for another product line that I might just sell online because eight months out of the year, we’re good,” says Val. “That effort has been trial-and-error so far. I’ve got a scented candle product coming up that I make using the lemon slices and rinds left over from squeezing lemonade.”
“I’m looking forward to the NVA helping me with launching that product and developing a marketing campaign – not my strong suit. I couldn’t be in a better place, and I thank God every day for the NVA.”
To learn more about Grandma Val’s Lemonade, visit https://www.gmavalslemonade.com/ or contact Valerie Canady at admin@gmavalslemonade.com.
Soft launch of Paths attracts local area doctors
There’s no better way to preview a company’s formal new product roll-out than an in-person demonstration of all the features and benefits of that product among a gathering of strategic partners, early adopters, and potential customers.
That’s exactly how Kermit Farmer, founder and Chief Ethos Officer of Paths, chose to preview his company’s innovative patient-centric software platform that helps medical practitioners inform, educate and guide patients and family caregivers as they struggle to navigate our increasingly complex healthcare delivery system.
An after-hours reception, presentation and networking event held at the NVA’s state-of-the-art entrepreneurial facilities a few weeks ago was a huge success for Paths in reaching local doctors, clinicians, and potential partners critical to the company’s continued growth.
“The ability to host our event at the NVA was a great example of the value the NVA offers to companies in the Auburn-Opelika area who are looking to elevate their visibility with key constituents,” says Farmer. “Space matters, and the NVA offers emerging companies like ours not only top-tier office space and valuable entrepreneurial resources, but also enables us to invite, entertain and educate essential stakeholders in comfortable surroundings that scream ‘prestige’ and ‘legitimacy.’ We wouldn’t be able to do that on our own in a non-descript office in some random strip mall across town.”
The Paths event featured company management, strategic partners, early adopters, and potential customers who gathered in an informative, educational environment that encouraged participants to interact with company leadership and fellow physicians. The collaborative structure, tone and tenor of the event epitomizes the benefits the Paths approach brings to both medical services providers and their patients while fostering the shared mission of Paths to empower physicians and other medical care providers with engaging, easy-to-use, and uniquely efficient tools for communicating more thoroughly and effectively with patients and their personal caregiver communities.
Paths is a purpose-driven, registered public benefit company that helps medical practitioners inform, educate and guide patients and family caregivers to better healthcare outcomes. Driven by a personal and professional founder origin story that inspires company leadership, strategic partners, public health organizations and early adopter medical providers to collaborate, Paths is making a difference in the lives of patients and caregivers by putting the patient journey first.
To learn more about Paths visit https://www.villagepaths.com/ or contact Kermit Farmer at kermit@villagepaths.com.
Get Started Today
Anyone interested in starting a new business in the Auburn-Opelika area or who may need help growing their existing business is encouraged to reach out to Lou Bifano (loubifano@auburn.edu) or Ward Swift (rws0022@auburn.edu) to learn more about the full range of programs and business counseling services offered by the Harbert College of Business, the New Venture Accelerator, the Auburn Research Technology Foundation, and the City of Auburn.
