Hanah Ehrenreich officially joins the LaunchPad team this spring as its SBDC business advisor, holding office hours each Wednesday from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the Blackstone LaunchPad in Bird Library. The SBDC network provides assistance to small businesses and aspiring entrepreneurs throughout the United States and its territories. SBDCs are hosted by leading universities, state and community colleges, and state economic development agencies, funded in part through a partnership with SBA. SBDC advisors provide aspiring and current small business owners a variety of free business consulting and low-cost training services including: business plan development, manufacturing assistance, financial packaging and lending assistance, exporting and importing support, disaster recovery assistance, procurement and contracting aid, market research help, 8(a) program support, and healthcare guidance.
Ehrenreich comes to the SBDC with a background in non-profits and sustainability. She is the founder and President of Revolutionary Coworking, a collaborative workspace designed for vetrepreneurs, milspreneurs, and remote workers near Fort Bragg, NC. She was honored as one of the City of Fayetteville’s 40 Under 40. From 2014-2018, she served as Director of Sustainable Sandhills, a grassroots environmental organization. Under her leadership, Sustainable Sandhills established the region’s first Carbon Bank, launched an annual Clean Energy Summit and a Green Business Awards competition, and presented at the Green School National Conference (2016) and National Airports Conference (2017). Ehrenreich and her team started an underground locavore PopUp Dinner series and partnered with Dirtbag Ales microbrewery to develop a popular new Farmers Market.
As a consultant for the Greater Fayetteville Chamber, she administered the Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA!) chapter for two years, and has a special place in her heart for youth entrepreneurs. She previously worked for CNY Works on green jobs through a $3.7M US Department of Labor workforce development grant.
Ehrenreich holds an MSc in Violence, Conflict, and Development Studies from the School of Oriental & African Studies (SOAS), University of London; and a BA in Government with Honors from Smith College. She is a member of Milspo Project, InGear Career/Hire Our Heroes, NAACP and the Human Rights Campaign. Her spouse is an active duty soldier in the US Army.