by Kylie Rowe, University Communications Intern

D r. Nicholas Creel, associate professor of Business Law and director of the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Georgia College & State University, along with Create Milledgeville, is using their newly awarded Rural Business Accelerator grant to host a 15-week intensive program for local businesses.

As a founding member of Create, Inc. in Milledgeville, Creel met a Georgia Power Economic Development employee who told him about the grant opportunity. After being awarded the grant, Creel and his team at the Center of Innovation and Entrepreneurship are in the process of determining which small business they are going to fund.

“That's what this grant was geared to do, to create specifically what we call an accelerator program, where we take businesses that either haven't started yet, or that have started but want to experience rapid growth in a short amount of time,” Creel said.

The goal for this grant and Creel is to benefit Milledgeville by supporting local business and boosting the local economy. Creel has participated in multiple projects with Create Milledgeville and the Center of Innovation and Entrepreneurship with this same goal in mind.

During summer 2024, he and Dr. Hasitha Mahabaduge - associate professor of Physics, director of Vertically Integrated Projects Program and point of contact for NSF S-STEM and PRESS - taught a class about solar panel installation. This class, through the Georgia College Continuing Education and Professional Education, was made possible through a $100,000 grant from The Partnership for Inclusive Innovation. Participants of the class were certified by the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners.

“The NABCEP is the gold standard,” Creel said. "If you want to get a job putting together solar panel systems for a company, that is what they look for.”

This free certificate course was one of the four projects funded in 2024 by the Community Research Grant Program. It was a vital achievement in the objective to continue Milledgeville’s economic growth.

Creel, along with Create Milledgeville, also teaches local courses about social media marketing, accounting and other business techniques. With his extensive background in economics and entrepreneurial research, Creel estimated that Georgia College has the opportunity to increase the local economic output even more with this intentional promotion.

“We’re trying to get people to go out there and create their own jobs – create their own companies,” Creel said.

With the planned summer 2025 program, Creel and Create Milledgeville are looking to use this grant to the best of their ability and teach useful business skills courses to anyone who wants to participate.