Certificate of Innovation and Change Coming to Nash County
Nash Community College and Springboard, Inc. are partnering to offer a Certificate of Innovation and Change. The first class of its type in the region, “Ideation: fuzzy ideas to clear concept,” will meet each Wednesday, March 18 through April 8, from 6:00 pm until 9:00 pm. The class is part of a series.
Innovators who aspire to be entrepreneurs are invited to learn how to turn fuzzy ideas into clearly defined concepts as they gain presentation, communicating, and prototyping skills for rapid adoption by potential customers, investors and more. During the class, students will be placed into groups where they interview experts, stakeholders and potential users or customers. In a flipped classroom environment, students with similar interests will use the Go Big! Toolkit layered with experiential learning to explore creativity, design thinking and comedy improv. They will hone intangible skills differentiating them from their competition.
The instructor, Christopher Mumford, is the founder of Joe Startup, a captivating entrepreneurial education website. He teaches innovation, design thinking and entrepreneurship as an adjunct faculty member at the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill and is currently involved in projects in technology, consumer products and healthcare. Mumford, who is presently partnering with Springboard, Inc. to deliver proven instructional methods locally, cofounded Launch Chapel Hill, a business accelerator, and 1789 Venture Lab, a coworking space. “I am delighted to be partnering with a forward-thinking institution like Nash Community College. We look forward to helping people of grit who want to make tomorrow better than today. With these innovation skills, these students will be real difference makers in their community, whether as an entrepreneur or an intrapreneur within a company or non-profit,” Mumford said. A North Carolina native and three-time author on the topics of design thinking, entrepreneurship and small business, he has started businesses in the United States and Asia and served in key leadership positions with a variety of companies while raising over $30 million from venture capitalists and private equity.
During “Ideation: from ideas to clear concept,” Mumford will teach students to clearly define a problem and solution, testing it by users and developing a possible prototype. The class will meet at Nash Community College in the Business and Industry Center, Room 1211. The cost, which includes textbooks, is $250 per student.
“We are excited to bring innovative, experiential learning to the Twin Counties in the form of a Certificate of Innovation and Change,” Nash Community College Vice President for Instruction and Chief Academic Officer Dr. Trent Mohrbutter said. “This class series aligns well with the community of innovation that is being built in our area. Not only will students take their ideas to a level ready to implement, but they will apply marketable skills, and leave with a credential setting them apart from others.”
To enroll in the class, please call 252-451-8216. Scholarships may be available.
