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The Kenan-Flagler Business School and the Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of
Private Enterprise announced a strategic partnership with the North Carolina
Economic Opportunity Fund. The fund is a major outcome of the N.C. Rural
Prosperity Task Force, chaired by Erskine Bowles and initiated by Gov. Jim Hunt
in July 1999 to help the state's rural communities and families adjust to
economic change.
The fund is organized as a venture fund with $40 million already raised from
private institutions and a potential capital base of at least $100 million. It
will invest in small businesses in rural North Carolina that exhibit the
potential for rapid growth. Many of the companies require financing that does
not fit the profile of traditional bank lending. N.C. Secretary of Commerce
Rick Carlisle is the fund's managing general partner and chief executive
officer.
"A key determinant of the fund's success will be the ability to tap into the
business and management assistance infrastructure in the state," Carlisle said.
"The partnership with Kenan-Flagler and the Kenan Institute is an important
component of this."
The partnership gives Kenan-Flagler the chance to build the next generation of
development-directed venture capitalists through courses on community
development venture capital, practicums associated with the fund, and
internship and employment opportunities. Fund managers will benefit from
faculty members' expertise in advising and consulting with portfolio companies.
Kenan-Flagler's alumni network will provide a source of deal flow and
specialized technical assistance for analysis of potential deals and assistance
to portfolio companies.
Carlisle will assume an adjunct faculty position at the school and will help
develop and teach courses on community development venture capital and assist
in identifying internship and practicum opportunities with the fund.
"This partnership offers a special opportunity for Kenan-Flagler and the fund
to synergize expertise and resources to accomplish exceptional outcomes," said
John Kasarda, professor of management at Kenan-Flagler and director of the
Kenan Institute. Kenan-Flagler offers a full range of top-ranked, innovative
programs designed to prepare business leaders to manage successfully in a
global business environment. The school offers degree programs -- bachelor of
science in business administration, master of business administration,
executive evening and weekend MBA, corporate MBA, master of accounting and
Ph.D. in business -- and non-degree executive education programs.
Through the Kenan Institute, the school works with business, government and
academia to foster the development of private enterprise in North Carolina,
throughout the United States and worldwide.
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