A longtime AdvantageWest VP moves to the Asheville Chamber to try and spur entrepreneurship.

by Jess McCuan . photo by Matt Rose

Last month, Pam Lewis, one of the most senior employees at the regional economic development group AdvantageWest, announced she’d be taking a newly created position—director of entrepreneurship—with the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce. Considering that one of AdvantageWest’s jobs is to either lure companies to WNC or support those that are here, it might not seem like such a leap. But Lewis, 44, sees her new role at the Chamber as a chance to connect some dots. Mainly, she wants to help local entrepreneurs get access to capital and go full steam ahead towards making Buncombe County a hotbed of entrepreneurial activity. In the midst of a long recession, some would argue she’s got her work cut out for her.

In an area like ours, with so few large companies to employ people, what’s the percentage of people who you consider to be entrepreneurs? First of all, I think there’s a difference between entrepreneurs and small business owners. I’d say the majority of businesses in Asheville and Buncombe County are either small businesses or entrepreneurs.

How do you define an entrepreneur then? Every big company starts as an entrepreneurial operation. Think of Google. That started as two guys in a garage. Now, it’s a household name. Here locally, think of the Biltmore Company. George Vanderbilt was an entrepreneur—very visionary, very much ahead of his time. With Biltmore Farms today, I think Jack Cecil is one of the leading entrepreneurs in our town. Entrepreneurs come in all shapes and sizes.

One of the main characteristics of an entrepreneur is someone who’s willing to assume risk—a greater risk. They’re not averse to that. Small business owners certainly assume risk, too. But entrepreneurs are constantly innovating. They’re not just in it for that one company or idea—they’re constantly creating, and they keep innovating.

Some people argue with me on that. They say every small business owner is an entrepreneur. But I think there’s a distinction.

How do you plan to encourage entrepreneurship here? I want to encourage people to say yes before they say no, and to think really big. You can never think too big.

Seek out the resources that are available. There’s an amazing amount of resources in this area, and you don’t know until you ask. That’s what I plan to do, put people in touch with those resources. That’s probably the greatest strength I bring to the table. I can be that eyeball that knows the resources that are out there in WNC and in the state for small businesses and entrepreneurs alike.

Is unemployment or rather, underemployment, a crisis in this area? I wouldn’t say it’s a crisis, but it is a concern. I’m more up to date on the numbers from around the region that suggest it is critical in some other areas across WNC.

But Asheville recently landed on a list as one of the hardest places in America to find a job. That seems like a problem that would be a concern to both the Asheville Chamber and to you as the entrepreneurship director. It’s not a list we want to be on. I hope to improve that. I’ve got some ideas I want to share. It’s an issue that everybody has to buy into and sit around the table and work on together. Access to capital, for example: We’ve lost some entrepreneurs because they’ve found capital elsewhere. That’s a real issue with some of the higher-growth and tech companies. We need to bolster our angel investor group in this area, and we should look to create or help to find other angel investor groups. We’ve got to tell our story more…We have some good companies here. I think it’s great that we’re known for tourism and all of that, but we have a real opportunity to be known as a place for entrepreneurship and capital.