Five Questions With: Shelley Cardoos

Shelley Cardoos is the executive director of Entrepreneurship for All’s South Coast location in New Bedford.
Shelley Cardoos is the executive director of Entrepreneurship for All’s South Coast location in New Bedford.

Shelley Cardoos is the executive director of Entrepreneurship for All’s South Coast location in New Bedford. She talks with Providence Business News about the accelerator and why EforAll opened a third location in the South Coast region.

PBN: Why did EforAll decide to expand to the South Coast last year?
CARDOOS:
Two and a half years ago, as EforAll was starting to show success in its program in Lowell and Lawrence. The Patrick administration asked if there was anything the commonwealth could do to help. We mentioned that we were looking to expand the EforAll model to other midsized cities and regions, and the state directed us toward the South Coast cities of Fall River and New Bedford and their surrounding towns. As a result, the Mass Technology Collaborative, a quasi-state agency, has provided EforAll with funding for its first three years in the South Coast; the local community will need to keep the program going after that time period.
PBN: What has the reaction been?
CARDOOS:
Initial reaction to the program was that it was too good to be true. Everyone was waiting for a catch. But everyone that has participated in a Pitch Contest (we run four a year) and the accelerator has had a great experience and we hear time and time again what’s most important is the sense of community. The entrepreneurs are getting feedback and encouragement from volunteers who read their applications, they are meeting other entrepreneurs as well as judges and business experts that all want to support them.
PBN: What will be some of the opportunities over the next year for the cohort to win prizes?
CARDOOS:
After graduating from the 12-week intensive portion of the Accelerator Program, we’ll be meeting with the cohort each quarter to review their goals and discuss their progress with the group. Each quarter we’ll have a prize pool of $5,000. The entrepreneurs also continue to meet with their three mentors for the rest of the year.
PBN: What will be the timetable for the next cohort?
CARDOOS:
We currently have applications on our website eforall.org for the next Accelerator Program. The applications are due Oct. 25 at 11:59 p.m. and the program will begin in December. We run the accelerator every winter and summer.

The first three months, the cohort meets twice a week to learn from business experts and then once a week to meet with three mentors. For the following nine months, they meet quarterly to review goals with the rest of the cohort and continue to meet with their mentors.
PBN: Have you had any success stories that you can name?
CARDOOS:
Mastermind Adventures, a business that provides unique events for kids and teens inspired by popular cultural with a focus on fun and learning. Since the winter 2016 accelerator program in the South Coast, Krysten Callina and her family hired an official employee and opened up a location at the Swansea Mall.

WORKINGURL Co., a business that has designed carryall bags for women on the go. Since the winter 2016 accelerator program in the South Coast, Victoria Hall has successfully raised $19,000 through a Kickstarter campaign to produce her first line of bags.

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99 Degree Customs, a U.S. apparel manufacturer who has now found a home in Lawrence, Mass., was a top prize winner in 2013 from the EforAll program in Lowell/Lawrence (it was called Merrimack Valley Sandbox at the time) and then went on to win $100,000 through Mass Challenge. She now has 25 employees with plans for expansion.

Catie’s Closet is a nonprofit that went through the EforAll program in Lowell/Lawrence in 2013. Catie’s Closet improves school attendance and removes social stigma by providing an in-school resource of clothing and basic necessities to students living below the poverty line. Their distribution center donated over 1 million pieces of clothing and necessities last year alone.

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