Thomas Entrepreneurship Hub in a resource for new business

Business advice, decisions and operations are conducted daily by the railroad tracks and in the shadow of the looming water tower in the heart of this Robeson County town.

The Thomas Entrepreneurship Hub, at 202 Main St. in Pembroke, is home to 10 start-up businesses. With roots in 2005, the hub first opened its doors at the downtown location in 2015 to provide opportunities for up-and-coming entrepreneurs and small businesses in the southeastern part of the state.

The University of North Carolina at Pembroke supports the program, and the hub’s executive director reports directly to the dean of the college’s Business School.

“We help start-ups succeed to create jobs in this region. That’s the real main goal -- job creation is the clear mission,” said Tom Hall, the executive director of the Thomas Entrepreneurship Hub, or Thomas Center, as it also is known.

With a chuckle, Hall said he’s not the Thomas in the facility’s name.

That would be Pembroke native Jim Thomas, a member of the UNCP Board of Trustees whom Hall credits as the “champion and driving force” behind the business incubator that touches upon 10 counties in the area. Thomas, who funded the program, is a prominent real estate developer in Los Angeles and founder of the Thomas Family Foundation. He’s also a former owner of the National Basketball Association’s Sacramento Kings.

Martha Hunt and her business partner, Sabrina Locklear, work out of the hub. Hunt, who is 73, has conducted business from the building for four or five years, but has been in partnership with the 48-year-old Locklear for nearly a year. Hunt said she previously had worked with a different company that ended up moving out of the building.

Together, these Lumbee Native American Indian women run the start-up Ohana Home Care LLC of Pembroke.

At this time, the non-medical home care business has eight employees, who rotate on duty, and four clients in the Durham and Chapel Hill area. Ohana’s services are available 24 hours a day and seven days a week, while specializing in care for those suffering from Alzheimer’s.

“We offer respite companion care. With each patient we have two workers,” Hunt said. “By having the hub, it offers us to have jobs in the community. The ladies (staff workers) are members of the community. It allows us to help bring jobs to the community. To help the workforce.”

Thus far, she said, their fledgling business efforts have been “hard. Very hard. We’re trying. The hub has helped us out tremendously. Offering office space. The rent is very reasonable.  We have Internet services. If we have a question, they can answer us. SBLT (Small Business Liaison Team) counsels us. Gives us business advice. They’ve just helped us out tremendously. We got training.

“There are other businesses in the hub, too. If we have questions, they are here. There’s always something beneficial to us,” Hunt added.

She hopes they can move into their own brick-and-mortar location, but noted, that’s out of reach right now. Perhaps, she said, if they can obtain additional clients.

At 20,000-square-feet, the Thomas Entrepreneurship Hub operates from a former furniture store and grain building. The building is about 100 years old, according to Hall.

The renovated facility features 10 private offices,16 semi-private cubicles, an idea lab, maker’s space, two conference rooms and an accelerator space to help aspiring entrepreneurs jumpstart their ideas into a marketing reality.

As explained by Hall, the maker’s space is a small workshop where budding entrepreneurs can work on a prototype.

“We have a number of ways to help start-ups,” he said. “We have an incubator with 10 basically offices that start-ups can rent. The only thing we charge you for is the rent for the office space if they choose to come in. They can come in here for roughly three years and incubate …

“They are surrounded by more services and less stress,” he said, “so they can grow and get stronger before they leave. We are full. We have 10 companies in those offices right now. They come in, they use the services, the copier, the cafe and all that stuff.”

Workshops also are held along with programs for such areas as agriculture and healthcare. The programs could be, for instance, on how to manage money and digital marketing.

“It really is nice in this business,” Hall said. “Risky. People put a lot on the line. When they do well, it’s really nice.”

Hall, who is 59, has served as the hub’s director for roughly 4 ½ years.

With COVID-19 apparently on the decline in this part of the country, he said they are ready “to ramp back up” and hope to be be going strong by September. The hub’s first live in-person event since the novel coronavirus pandemic was scheduled May 13 -- the 100 Million Cups, which is a free national event meant to educate, engage and connect with entrepreneurs.

“I order coffee and bagels,” he said, “and people show up.”

Before COVID, the hub worked with about 65 start-ups, according to Hall. On a yearly basis, more than 140 events are presented while the 12-member staff serves about 5,200 participants on an annual basis.

“We were very active,” he said.

The facility operates on a yearly budget of nearly $2 million with money received from the university and grants.

“The chancellor is a big supporter,” he said of Robin Cummings, who took office in 2015.

The Thomas Entrepreneurship Hub has produced some success stories while serving the public, Hall said:

“We reflect the community. Most of our start-ups are Native American Lumbee and a lot of women. We have a lot of women start-ups. It’s not really students because we’re focused on the people of the community.”

Hall cited the success of Lumbee Tribal Enterprises, which is a small business that provides products and services to industry and government entities, and Lady Built Construction.

“She was here about 1 ½ years,” he said, referring to Sarah Bullard, the owner of Lady Built Construction of Pembroke. “We’ve had a couple of printing companies that did pretty well. A massage therapy company.”

Bullard, who is 40, started her contracting business in 2017. She now has a full-time staff of four people. Lady Built Construction builds and remodels residential homes while also working jobs for the state.

“They helped me in the beginning a lot,” she said of the Pembroke-based business hub. “To get my certifications and to get my finances in order. How to keep records regarding payroll and like administrative tasks.”

Bullard also said the hub, as an asset to the community, brings in representatives of outside companies to speak to local entrepreneurs and field any questions.

A representative of Lumbee Tribal Enterprises could not immediately be reached for comment.

During the pandemic, the hub increased its start-ups by what Hall called “a ton.”

“We’re still consulting a lot,” he said. “There are two ways for start-ups. Sometimes it’s their dream, and the other way is out of necessity. I think because of the pandemic, a lot of people got nervous. They were out of work or whatever.

“There’s definitely an opportunity,” he added. “We are extremely busy helping start-ups, and start-ups are always the ones that lift the economy out (of a slump) with new ideas and new products, and that’s going to happen soon. We’re excited about the activity and are looking forward to more events.”