Borrower Profiles
Product/Service: Center for creative businesses; Art programs; Art gallery
NCIFund Role: Business loan
Sector: Cultural tourism and consumer services
Impact: Downtown revitalization; Job creation
Product/Service: Lodging
Product/Service: Biogas from animal waste
Product/Service: Grease trap recycling
Product/Service: Recording studio and practice space
Product/Service: Goat cheese
Product/Service: Restaurant
Impact: Job creation, downtown revitalization, sustainability
Kevin and Melanie Sandefur originally opened BearWaters Brewing in Waynesville, North Carolina, in 2012. After four successful years of operation, they knew they needed to expand; they set their sights on 101 Park Street in Canton, a historic building directly across from the town’s active paper mill.
Tyrone Williams’ 62-acre timber and crop farm, Fourtee Acres, in Enfield, North Carolina, has been in his family for generations. Connected to a larger family operation that includes cropland and rental properties, Fourtee Acres was named with dual meaning: a play on the “40 acres and a mule” that was promised to freed slaves during Reconstruction, and the four “T’s” in Tyrone’s family—himself, and his three sons Trevelyn, Tremaine, and Tyron. His wife Edna, according to Tyrone, represents the double “e,” with her energy and encouragement.
Pamela Powell started her child care center, Christian Prep Academy, in 1998, and has built a successful and profitable business over the past 19 years. The Academy carries a 5-star rating from the state of North Carolina—the highest rating a center can receive. Because of Christian Prep’s stellar rating, the center is able to receive higher reimbursement rates from the state, and is one of just a few centers in the state that has been awarded pre-K slots for at-risk youth. The center currently enrolls more than 60 youth, and has a maximum enrollment of 90.
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