Love of entrepreneurship led Jonathan Collins to head Small Business Center

With both parents and his older sister as entrepreneurs, it was a natural fit for new Small Business Center Director Jonathan Collins to find himself on the entrepreneurial path. 

Collins has managed three businesses in Durham and Chapel Hill and also served in roles that supported small businesses as they looked to grow and expand. 

Collins was named the director of the Small Business Center at Durham Tech in February 2022. 

The Small Business Center at Durham Tech provides startup and existing entrepreneurs with the information and resources that they need to succeed. These services are provided at no cost to the client and they can receive resources in business planning, marketing, legal, accounting, and financial management, to name a few. 

As director, Collins engages in one-on-one counseling with clients, plans events, and publicizes the offerings of the Small Business Center. 

He has a penchant for trying new things. From a first love of film production to teaching abroad to restaurant management, Collins brings experience from several industries as he looks to support and provide resources to local small businesses. 

Entrepreneurial journey 

After graduating from Chapel Hill High School, Collins decided to travel back to Canada, where he was born, to continue the family legacy of attending Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in film and media studies in 2008 in hopes of becoming a film producer. After graduating college, he landed an internship at the Toronto Film Festival and eventually realized film was not for him. 

As a way to push himself out of his comfort zone and experience the world, he decided to leave the internship and live abroad for a year. Collins moved over 6,000 miles away to Busan, South Korea, to teach English to kindergarten-age students at an English immersion school, YBM ECC. 

“While I was there I always had a passion for food and cooking. So, I decided when I came back home, maybe I would give it a go in the restaurant business and see how that went,” he said.  

After moving back to Chapel Hill and working a few restaurant jobs and eventually meeting his business partner Kara, they both received the opportunity to help run a local bagel shop. After six months of running the business, the owner allowed Collins and Kara to buy him out – they did exactly that.  

This was the beginning of his entrepreneurial journey.  

“When we took over we did a total rebrand of the business because the old brand didn’t really have any value because it had been so tarnished for so long,” said Collins. “We rebranded as Bagel Bar. Things were doing great and the business grew.” 

The Chapel Hill business flourished which allowed them to enter the wholesale market by making bagels at night and delivering them to local coffee shops each morning.  

A few years later they were able to expand into Durham in a space across the street from City Hall.  

“We had full control over how the space was designed, how it would operate, and we built out staffing procedures, employee handbooks, and tried to formalize a lot of structure within our business,” said Collins. 

‘Help the next generation of entrepreneurs’ 

Eventually, three businesses began to be too much, Collins said, and he decided to sell them. This opportunity allowed him to find his calling in helping others with their businesses. 

He entered the industry of entrepreneurial support which allowed him to volunteer with local organizations and provide counseling and support to business owners. 

“I really enjoyed getting to work with these business owners and it helped me realize a lot of the value in what I had learned as a business owner over the last seven years,” he said.  

Collins’ old boss sent him the job posting at Durham Tech and he was quick to apply.  

“I look forward to developing strong relationships with the local business owners that we engage with every day, I get so much joy from walking down the street and knowing that I’ve touched so many of the businesses that I also patronize. I love the community-based approach to what we do and am excited to help the next generation of entrepreneurs thrive in Durham and Orange counties,” said Collins.   

To learn more about the Small Business Center and their resources, please visit: https://www.durhamtech.edu/small-business-center  

FOR MORE INFORMATION   
Desiree Towson, M.S.: Durham Tech Communications and Public Relations Coordinator at allisontowsond@durhamtech.edu