A new business accelerator program has launched in Trenton and is accepting applicants for its first cohort.
The nonprofit Novella Center for Entrepreneurship, which currently operates in Baltimore, has received a grant from the City of Trenton’s Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (CLFRF) to establish its Conscious Venture Lab Accelerator Program in the capital city. The center provides training and mentorship programs, free to participants, to spur economic growth and the development of businesses. To date 80 percent of program participants have been women or minority founders.
The Novella Center was founded in 2022 by Jeff Cherry, a Baltimore-raised entrepreneur and executive. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in architecture from Catholic University of America and founded his first company in 1985 at the age of 25. That company was named to Inc. magazine’s 1997 list of fastest-growing ventures and spawned five additional companies. Cherry named the Novella Center after his mother, Joyce Novella Cherry, who grew up experiencing the effects of discrimination in segregated Baltimore and instilled an appreciation of justice in all its forms in her own children.
In Trenton there will be two 14-week cohorts, conducted in consecutive years. Applications for this year’s cohort, scheduled to begin in October, are being accepted through Friday, July 25. A virtual information session takes place Wednesdays, May 14 and June 11, from noon to 1 p.m. In-person office hours will be held at a Trenton location to be determined on Tuesday, June 10.
“We are truly grateful that the Novella Center has chosen Trenton as the next location for their Accelerator Program,” said Trenton Mayor W. Reed Gusciora. “This venture will bring tremendous opportunity to Trenton’s entrepreneurial ecosystem — our local entrepreneurs will have the chance to connect with networks and gain access to world-class mentorship. It’s a strong vote of confidence in the talent and potential we have in Trenton.”
Novella uses the Conscious Venture Lab’s model to teach entrepreneurs, early-stage founders, and CEOs the tenets of Stakeholder Theory and Conscious Capitalism, concepts developed by author and entrepreneurship professor Raj Sisodia of Tecnológico de Monterrey and Ed Freeman f the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. Their underlying principles are:
1) Societal Purpose and the guiding principle of your organization
2) Creating Cultures of Caring that engage employees to give their best efforts
3) Building authentic Servant Leaders to enliven and inspire all stakeholders to work for your success.
4) Providing tools to create an interdependent system of Stakeholder-Centered Management.
As applied to the accelerator program, this philosophy helps diverse entrepreneurs build innovative solutions to problems of equity, access, safety, and human flourishing. The Novella Center focuses in particular on places where a link exists between poor economic prospects and everything from mental health, food insecurity, life expectancy and the prevalence of violence in communities.
Participants will be selected based on factors including growth potential, social impact, and scalability. The training and mentoring program covers personal leadership, stakeholder theories, business development, and preparation for investment presentations. The Novella Center is not an investment organization, but it prepares founders to seek venture capital and other investment opportunities.
“We are at a pivotal social point where we are collectively rethinking our relationship with businesses,” Cherry said. “Customers and business partners are carefully considering their purchasing behavior, their workplaces’ commitments, and where they invest their money, based on both financial value and social impact.”
“There is a massive opportunity, especially for minority- and women-owned businesses, for venture capital investment,” said Cherry. “Novella Center will teach entrepreneurs how to develop and connect with these opportunities.”
More information: novellacenter.org.
Jeff Cherry is the founder of the Novella Center, which has launched its Conscious Venture Lab Accelerator Program in Trenton.,
