Entrepreneurship Alliance: Home

The ACA's Entrepreneurship Alliance is a consortium-wide endeavor to share expertise and events related to the study and propagation of entrepreneurship at our member institutions – especially as it relates to the opportunities and challenges of our Appalachian region.

Alliance members commit to sharing their expertise in curriculum, staff, and programs to cultivate entrepreneurial education and activities on our campuses and to increase access among our students, faculty, and staff to events, speakers, and other educational opportunities. Through these collaborations, we increase our students’ diversity of learning experiences, enhance our faculty’s and staff’s professional development, and cultivate increased relationships with our broader communities.

In its role, the ACA facilitates collaboration among Alliance members, which may include, among other possibilities, these activities:

• Members’ sharing of consultation, events, and other programs with students, faculty, and staff at other member institutions;
• Ongoing dialogue among faculty and staff with professional interests in the teaching and promotion of entrepreneurship in their classes, on their campuses, and in their communities beyond their institutions;
• Enhancement of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial education across the region through the activities of our member institutions;
• Collaborations to share our expertise across our schools and the region to cultivate commercial and social entrepreneurship;
• Preparation for and implementation of “pitch” competitions and other high impact student learning experiences regarding the study and application of entrepreneurship; and
• Ongoing efforts to seek and secure external funding to support these and other collaborations and educational efforts related to entrepreneurial learning and programming.

To sustain this endeavor, the ACA facilitates a formal advisory group comprised of campus representation from member institutions. The group meets regularly to share ideas and practices and support program development and other collaborations among members.

Call for Proposals: Student Entrepreneurship for Appalachia

The Appalachian College Association seeks proposals from undergraduate students at its member institutions for its inaugural Student Entrepreneurship for Appalachia pitch competition. This program furnishes undergraduate students from ACA member institutions with the opportunity to develop and present their innovative commercial or social entrepreneurial plans, receive valuable feedback from academic, business, and community experts, and compete for cash awards.

This program occurs in two stages. The preliminary stage provides students with the opportunity to submit their written and video pitch proposals before the end of fall semester. The final stage, in which the top proposals come together for a live competition, takes place on Friday and Saturday, March 27-28, 2026, at the Lake Junaluska Conference Center, west of Asheville, NC. Students who reach the final competition are required to attend the event. Most (if not all) expenses of the students and mentors associated with travel and lodging to Lake Junaluska are covered by the ACA.

Learn More and/or Submit Your Application

The ACA wishes to thank the NC Idea Foundation for its funding support for the Student Entrepreneurship for Appalachia Pitch Competition.

Alliance Campus Representatives

ACA member institutions provide campus representatives who constitute the Alliance's Advisory Committee, committed to promoting the goals of this initiative.

Community Connections

Our ACA member institutions' engagement through entrepreneurship and other business endeavors is but one example of how deeply connected our schools are with their surrounding communities.  Our schools serve as beacons for their communities - making the world beyond their campuses rich laboratories for student learning, for cultivating beneficial partnerships, and for sharing educational and cultural opportunities with community members young and old. We encourage you to explore the many "community-facing" programs and events that ACA members share with their regions.