By Nathaniel Luce
NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Grammy-winning blues artist Kevin Moore, known better as Keb’Mo, is teaming up with the Vanderbilt Accelerator Summer Business Institute to take the blues forward into the next decade.
Accelerator students will develop a plan to expand Moore’s reach through the Yolabelle label— increasing record sales, fan engagement and fan base. They will also brainstorm ways to encourage collaborations across brands, and create strategies applicable to artists on the Yolabelle imprint.
The Accelerator Summer Business Institute is an intense month long business boot camp run by the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management. In the program, college students and recent graduates from across the country are immersed in a competitive business environment, working to create the winning solution to real challenges from top local and national companies. The students hone essential skills in marketing, sales, finance, real estate, research and corporate strategy, while participating companies receive the brainpower, creativity and proposals from several teams of highly motivated millennials.
The Keb’Mo’ project will launch on June 4 at 3 p.m. at Green’s Grocery. Keb’Mo’ and Blue Mother Tupelo will perform acoustic sets, followed by presentations and a question and answer session by A&R and business development representatives of Yolabelle.
Final presentations will take place at 8 a.m. on June 12 at Averbuch Auditorium at the Owen Graduate School of Management. Please contact Amy Wolf if you’d like to attend either event.
Other Accelerator projects include:
- Bridgestone Americas – Bridgestone Americas recently announced its One Team, One Planet Spent Tire Program, a waste-free vision for the future of the tire industry, with the goal to recycle or repurpose one spent tire for every new tire sold. The challenge for the Accelerator teams is to design and implement an innovation forum to gather new and innovative ideas for recovering and reusing spent tires.
- Captain D’s – Captain D’s plans to build a customer loyalty program to draw new diners to the restaurants, reward existing customers for dining more often. The challenge for the Accelerator teams is to identify best practices of other loyalty programs and design a program best suited to the needs of Captain D’s.
- Thistle Farms – Thistle Farms is an artisanal bath product manufacturer run by women who have survived lives of prostitution, trafficking, addiction and life on the streets. The group’s next project is to create a business plan for the Thistle Stop Café, a coffee shop offering entertainment, introducing visitors to the work of Thistle Farms, employing Magdalene House residents, and serving as an event and education space.
To follow the progress of the Accelerator students and their projects, visit the Vanderbilt Accelerator Summer Business Institute page on Facebook.
Contact Person: Amy Wolf Senior Public Affairs Officer Vanderbilt University
Contact Phone: (615) 322-NEWS
Contact Email: amy.wolf@vanderbilt.edu
