CULTURE CLUB: RAVILA GUPTA LEADS THE COUNCIL FOR ENTREPRENEURIAL DEVELOPMENT AS IT MARKS 35 YEARS OF PROMOTING TRIANGLE TECH AND LIFE SCIENCES CONCERNS.

• Author: Ranii, David
• Position: NC TREND: Game changer: Profile of a female leader

In 1984, Apple Inc.'s innovative Macintosh computer turned heads, The Karate Kid kicked butt and the Triangle area's Council for Entrepreneurial Development stepped into the breach. On May 16, CED is celebrating its 35th anniversary--making it the oldest, as well as the largest, U.S. entrepreneurial support group with 4,000 members. Contributing writer David Ranii recently discussed the organization with Ravila Gupta, the former president of Raleigh-based Umicore USA, who joined CED as president and CEO two years ago. The conversation was edited for brevity and clarity.

* WHAT'S YOUR "ELEVATOR PITCH" FOR CED'S MISSION?

Our mission is really to connect entrepreneurial companies to high-value resources to accelerate their business growth.

* WHY IS AN ORGANIZATION LIKE CED NEEDED?

Back in 1984 when CED was formed, business leaders--there were 15 of them at the time--came together and decided to create an organization that would help foster the growth of companies in the entrepreneurial space. It was really important because the entrepreneurial ecosystem wasn't as vibrant as it is today.

* HAS THE ADVENT OF AMERICAN UNDERGROUND, HQ RALEIGH AND OTHER CROUPS CATERING TO STARTUPS CHANCED CED'S MISSION OR ITS APPROACH?

I think that seeing these other entities coming into play like AU and HQ is just further testament to what's going on in this region. They are partners with us. We routinely work together.

* HOW IS CED CHANGING?

We will be coming out with a new approach to adjust how CED interacts with the community in the next couple of months. I'm being a little bit careful here because we haven't completely released the new model.

* WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES/OBSTACLES THAT CED FACES GOING FORWARD?

We'll always face the challenge of bandwidth. We're only 10 people. It's amazing to me when I look at my team and what they are able to accomplish and produce. But there's always so much more that we could be doing.

* HOW DOES YOUR MENTORING PROGRAM WORK?

We actually license that from [Massachusetts Institute of Technology]. Essentially, we have a group oi mentors--around 80 to 85--who are either serial entrepreneurs or executives or other folks with the skills and talent that we're looking for. The companies will come pitch in front of these mentors. [Then], we create a group mentoring program around these entrepreneurial companies. We have three to four mentors that work together to help a company along its journey.

* ACCORDING TO YOUR WEBSITE, CED HAS...