BCCC and WBC Chamber of Commerce Present “Entrepreneurship for All” With Brian Hamilton | Eastern North Carolina Now

Press Release:

    WASHINGTON, NC     What's it like to create your own job? For many entrepreneurs, the process of getting started can be at once exhilarating and frightening. Many will leave behind the security of a stable position and put their own financial assets on the line, but some will create their own job out of necessity. Long before any financial reward kicks in, these new business owners may find joy in determining their own business affairs and running an operation that feels personally gratifying to them. On March 26, the Washington-Beaufort County Chamber of Commerce and Beaufort County Community College will host Brian Hamilton, who will share his vision of what "Entrepreneurship for All" looks like and encourage attendees to consider this path as a way for anyone to create their own job, no matter what their economic background. The free hour-long event will take place in the Building 10 Multi-Purpose Room on BCCC's campus at 12:30 p.m. on March 26. Participants can register by calling 252-940-6375.


    Brian Hamilton is an entrepreneur with experience starting businesses across a range of industries, including landscaping, real estate, and technology. Raised in a working-class neighborhood near Bridgeport, Conn., Hamilton knows the challenges that people face in breaking out of the economic conditions into which they are born. He uses this knowledge and his entrepreneurship experience to help historically disadvantaged groups create and grow businesses.

    "Grassroots economic development is important to the state of North Carolina and Brian Hamilton understands that personally," said Lentz Stowe, Small Business Center director at BCCC. "Brian and his foundation are 'heavy lifters' when it comes to supporting the entrepreneurial environment. We are fortunate to have him come to our campus and speak to our small business job creators. Brian's message is educational, encouraging and impactful. I hope anyone with an entrepreneurial mindset will join us."

    Hamilton was the first in his family to attend college, running a landscaping business to pay for his undergraduate degree. He graduated from Sacred Heart University, where he later served on the Board of Trustees, and received an Master in Business Administration from Duke University.

    He started the Brian Hamilton Foundation, which is based on the belief that entrepreneurship is for everyone in America, not just the people who were lucky enough to be exposed to it or to the privileged. After graduate school, Hamilton worked as a minority business consultant for the Small Business Administration in the state of North Carolina. While there, he met his friend, Reverend Robert J. Harris, who he would eventually work with to help people in prison start their own businesses. This work became the basis for Inmates to Entrepreneurs, a program that helps people with criminal backgrounds to start their own business through in-person and online counseling.

    Hamilton also started a chain of coin laundromats in cities that were designed specifically to improve the laundry experience of people by developing community and providing better services. Some of these services included Mom's Day Thursday, Free Dryer Wednesday, and Bible study groups.​ Hamilton also started Sageworks in 1998, an early financial technology company through which he earned multiple patents for his work in automating financial analysis. He is a regular guest on CNBC and Fox and really writes for national publications.

    The workshop will explore what resources the Brian Hamilton Foundation can offer individuals and will have a question and answer session with Hamilton so he may share his perspective, advice and counsel. This workshop is ideal for people who are thinking about starting their own business, but do not think of themselves as a typical business owner.

• Attila Nemecz
• Marketing and Public Relations Coordinator
• Beaufort County Community College
• 5337 U.S. Highway 264 East
• Washington, N.C. 27889
• Ph: 252-940-6387
• Cell: 252-940-8672
• attila.nemecz@beaufortccc.edu