Capitalism Transformed
We use entrepreneurship as a tool to transform the purpose of business in society. Creating a more just, joyous, equitable, prosperous and profitable world for us all.
We use entrepreneurship as a tool to transform the purpose of business in society. Creating a more just, joyous, equitable, prosperous and profitable world for us all.
Novella Center for Entrepreneurship Inc. (Novella Center) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to expanding access to the opportunity of entrepreneurship for all. Leveraging a decade of learning from our work at the Conscious Venture Lab, Novella Center creates partnerships and programming that help entrepreneurs rethink the relationship between business and society and build companies that matter.
Novella Center is named after our founder’s Mom, Joyce Novella Cherry. Joyce grew up in the 1940’s in segregated Baltimore, Maryland, and experienced firsthand the consequences of discrimination. She taught Jeff and his sisters about the importance of justice in all forms – legal, social, and particularly economic – and about how these were critical components for thriving communities. Particularly for those communities that have been historically neglected.
Today, Novella Center honors Joyce’s legacy through economic empowerment in those communities. We expose under-estimated entrepreneurs, early-stage founders, and CEOs to Stakeholder Theory and the Tenets of Conscious Capitalism™ and show them how managing a business for all stakeholders creates both societal and financial value, helps to create generational wealth, and ultimately leads to a more just, joyous, equitable, sustainable, and prosperous society for all.
Novella Center creates programming that help entrepreneurs rethink the relationship between business and society to build companies that matter. Our Conscious Venture Lab Accelerator Programs have generated new wealth in communities long excluded from traditional venture ecosystems. We believe when you invest in people, not just profits, entire communities can come back to life.
Novella Center focuses on training diverse founders operating at the intersection of profit and purpose. Those using innovation to break down barriers to access, who believe diversity is a competitive advantage, and who understand how business practiced with a stakeholder mindset can create a more prosperous and profitable society for all.
Customized Content
Our learning management system is powered by FounderTrac, the most robust, fully-integrated entrepreneurship training management platform in the industry.
Immersive Support
We surround founders with world-class talent to support building a new business. NCE’s facilitators focus on topics to help prepare founders for investments.
Stakeholder Focused
We’ve created a curriculum based on the tenants of Stakeholder Theory and Conscious Capitalism®, a research and market proven path to better-managed companies.
Based on our work with author and Entrepreneurship professor Raj Sisodia and UVA Darden’s Ed Freeman, we’ve created a
curriculum based on the tenants of Stakeholder Theory and Conscious Capitalism® a research and market proven path to
better-managed companies.
In 2013, our internationally acclaimed Conscious Venture Lab Accelerator Program opened its doors in Howard County, Maryland as the passion and brainchild of our founder Jeff Cherry. For more than 37 years, Jeff has been a serial entrepreneur, management consultant, architect, tech executive and investor, and the program is built upon the foundation of this body of work. The Program has continued to scale to meet the needs of society, address the current business climate, and support diverse entrepreneurs, and has included a move to West Baltimore, a subsequent move to Port Covington and a pivot during the Covid-19 pandemic. Novella Center most recently moved to Spark Co-working Baltimore.
Venture capitalist, serial entrepreneur. Started 7 companies with 3 successful exits. Inc. 500 CEO (1997).
Founder of first public equity fund investing in stakeholder focused companies.
