The Carolina Small Business Development Fund (CSBDF), a Raleigh based 501(c)3 nonprofit that has been an advocate for small business development since starting in 1990, recently came to Fayetteville Technical Community College to celebrate local Black entrepreneurship in the area. 

During their 2025 Black Entrepreneurship Celebration, held on March 4 in the FTCC Tony Rand Students center, the CSBDF was able to host local leaders, developers and entrepreneurs across multiple industries for an evening of networking and education. 

Although based in Raleigh, the CSBDF works statewide as an economic development engine to deploy capital in underserved communities. These communities can be defined as those that don’t have access to “traditional’ bank capital, or businesses owned by women, Veterans or other underserved demographics. 

“In emphasizing certain communities, when we try to connect them with capital, culture and the information that we derive from policy and research that doesn't mean that other communities don’t benefit,” said CSBDF President & CEO Kevin Dick in his welcome address. “...since we began directly lending to small businesses in 2010, we’ve deployed $120 million in capital in the form of loans between $5,000 and $350,000 primarily, sometimes we may go higher depending on circumstances.” 

Dick shared that the thing that sets the CSBDF apart as a nonprofit organization is that they also provide technical assistance to the businesses borrowing from them. 

“It’s not just about getting the money, it’s what you do when you have the money,” shared Dick. “What we can do is inform. And we inform elected officials, philanthropic organizations and other key stakeholders about why small businesses are so relevant to North Carolina’s economy. Everything we do is based upon data,” said Dick. 

In February 2025, a study conducted by LendingTree LLC found that Fayetteville, NC had the second highest number of Black owned businesses in the country with 480 Black- owned businesses out of 4,759 businesses total. Fayetteville fell behind Atlanta, GA only slightly, with Atlanta having 11.3% of Black-owned businesses with Fayetteville having 10.1%. 

The celebration included three panels including: 

•  A welcome panel, featuring City of Fayetteville Mayor Mitch Colvin, Cumberland County Board of Commissioners Vice Chairwoman Veronica B. Jones and speakers and Kevin Dick serving as moderator.

• Veteran business panel featuring Fayetteville based CEO of Madison Consulting Firm and Evuitton Eric Stevenson, Executive Director of the North Carolina Military Business Center Scott Dorney, Roderick White with the NC Department of Military and Veteran Affairs and Director of FTCC’s Center for Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Small Business Ricardo Murphy. The panel was moderated by Mark Royster Jr. who serves as a senior vice president and the chief credit officer at the CSBDF. 

• An agricultural panel featuring District 6 Field Representative and current YF&R Team Leader Tadashi Totten, County Extension Director Lisa Childers with the NC Cooperative Extension program and a Business Solutions Officer with the CSBDF Bryant Kennedy. This panel was moderated by Cumberland County Commissioner Glenn Adams. 

 Each panel provided local industry experts to share their knowledge and answer questions from the audience. 

A full recording of the Black Entrepreneurship Celebration, a complete rundown of the panelists and more information on the CSBDF can be found on their website here.