What started out as an effort to help increase the availability of high-speed Internet in rural areas has blossomed into a regional effort to help local small business owners and artists make a name for themselves and become successful.

New Ventures Business Development, Inc. (NVBDI) got started when the opportunity arose for a grant to create a small business center through the e-NC Authority. The authority was started by the N.C. legislature with the goal of providing high-speed Internet access to the state's 85 rural counties, explained NVBDI executive director Don Altieri. The grant helped to create seven business and technology centers throughout the state. "Our goals were to do whatever we could to infuse technology and help people understand the importance of the Internet," Altieri said. "The long-term goal of e-NC was to move beyond DSL to high-speed broadband for N.C. Along with the Internet, our goal is also doing whatever could be done to help small business in rural areas."

The latter goal became increasingly important in Anson County, he said, as over the years, the county's numerous textile mills have gone out of business, leaving many unemployed.

As the textile industry became less and less prevalent in Anson County, it opened the door for more entrepreneurship, Altieri explained, which is where outreach coordinator Lois Crumpler comes in.

Crumpler, who has worked for both the county and South Piedmont Community College (SPCC), said the rationale behind New Ventures is two-fold— "We have a significant number of artisans in this region, who really didn't have a way of exhibiting their work. They are also small businesses in that they need the same type of assistance; they just have a different project."

As a result, New Ventures grew to not only helping small businesses, but also helping artisans. The facility in SPCC's Lockhart-Taylor Center houses the Olde Mill Art Gallery, featuring paintings, pottery, sculpture, jewelry and other works of art for display and for sale.

"We provide them with whatever kind of business services they may need in order to be successful small business owners," Crumpler explained.

All of the artisans featured in the New Ventures gallery are either natives to the area or have some sort of local connection.

As Crumpler worked within the community, developing relationships with small business owners and artisans, a need was discovered for a women's center in Anson County. The mission of the center is to "provide women with avenues to move forward in building their confidence and understanding of an ever-changing world and to empower, enhance, enrich and enlighten them through knowledge, skill building, networks and resources."

The center, which started in 2008, is designed to help women who may be interested in starting a business but who do not have the skills, Altieri said.

"Over time," Crumpler added, "so many women have become heads of household. ... We can help these women to develop a plan to move her and her family from a state of dependency to being self-sufficient."

Construction is also under way on a commercial kitchen that will provide more sufficient space for local caterers to prepare foods to take to event locations. Currently, there is a small catering room in the Lockhart-Taylor Center but the new, far more spacious kitchen will be more beneficial for the catering business. Caterers will be able to park at the building's loading dock and enter the kitchen through a back door, keeping the rest of the building secure for other tenants, Altieri said. "We have two target groups in this— one is caterers, for them to be able to prepare food here and take it to another location. The other is farmers who want to do value-added products, like jams or jellies. This will give them an opportunity to do that on a larger scale."

Currently, the kitchen is on schedule to open in late August or early September.

For more information on NVBDI and its activities and projects, visit www.nvbdi.org. The Olde Mill Gallery is located in the Lockhart-Taylor Center, 514 N. Washington St., Wadesboro, and is open Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Friday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., or by appointment.