East Carolina University’s College of Business established their Miller School of Entrepreneurship in 2015 by a generous donation from Raleigh-area entrepreneur J. Fielding Miller, and wife, Kim Grice Miller. The Miller School of Entrepreneurship was created to prepare students who have an interest in bringing an entrepreneurial mindset to their community. Still, the only named school of entrepreneurship in North Carolina, ECU’s curriculum offers strategic partnerships with co-curricular programs to promote regional transformation.

Pirate Entrepreneurship Challenge

Started in 2017, this challenge allows students of the Miller School of Entrepreneurship to enter their business pitch into a competition. The challenge incorporates three different rounds, allowing teams to advance based on voting. The first round includes an open-air trade show where the contestants can showcase their ideas to ECU students, faculty and community members who vote on their favorite business/idea.

The twelve teams who advance to the second round will pitch their ideas to potential mentors. The mentors vote on who they would like to work with, and those teams advance to the third round. The six teams chosen will go on to the third and final round, where a winner will be chosen. Small Business Institute Director David Mayo and Miller School of Entrepreneurship Director Michael Harris have claimed this challenge to be one of the biggest in North Carolina, raising around $77,000 to award the winners to further their business idea.

Why Red Shark Digital Decided to Get Involved

Red Shark Digital is a digital marketing agency servicing Greenville, Raleigh, Wilmington and surrounding areas. We do everything from website development, SEO, branding, search and social media advertising. We partnered with the ECU School of Entrepreneurship this year to encourage students with an entrepreneurial spirit to bring their ideas to the Eastern NC community. RSD was excited to be a part of the Pirate Entrepreneurship Challenge this year and contributed a $5,000 in-kind donation. The winner of this award was given to Cameron Higley and Conner Hillgrove of Tailgate Classics.

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