Why Burunda Prince-Jones Came Home to The Farm

After a spell in the northeast at companies like Bain and Procter & Gamble, Burunda Prince-Jones is home again in Atlanta where she grew up. Even better, she’s been given the opportunity to help build a new home for entrepreneurs from the ground up at The Farm as managing director. Housed at The Battery Atlanta, The Farm offers a variety of programs to support and nurture selected startups and entrepreneurs, including a twice-a-year, three-month accelerator program, premium incubator office space, cutting-edge hardware prototype lab and co-working space.

First impressions?

When I accepted the position of managing director of The Farm, I was excited to join a team with Comcast NBCUniversal and Boomtown to help create the future of Atlanta business. While startups of all sizes and kinds are one of the largest engines creating jobs in our economy, I also know how it feels when you’re the underdog. At The Farm, our “entrepreneur first” attitude ensures our teams will not be underdogs because they have a strong team behind them, unparalleled access to the right mentors to move them forward and unfettered access to the support they need to build a strong organization.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I earned a chemical engineering degree from MIT and an MBA from Harvard and have remained active in both of my alma maters. After college, I held management positions with Rohm & Haas Company (a Fortune 500 organization acquired by Dow Chemical Company in 2009), as well as Bain & Company, Temple, Barker & Sloane and Procter & Gamble. I’m also passionate about giving back and have served on the Wissahickon School District Board of Directors, Montgomery County Intermediate Unit Board of Directors, the President’s Council of Gwynedd Mercy College and as chair of the Black Alumni Association for the MIT Alumni Association. I’m looking forward to finding some good fits for my skills and passions here in Atlanta.

What are your goals for The Farm and its role in nurturing entrepreneurs in the city?

I have four primary goals: The Farm will be a place of learning, collaboration and empowerment in the tech/startup ecosystem, both in Atlanta and globally. The Farm will represent, through its staff and selected teams, the world in which we live, including the wide diversity of thought, experience, culture and demographics. Everyone and anyone is always welcome at The Farm. The Farm will be the place for entrepreneurs and to always make them the heart, hero and focus of every decision we make. The Farm will promote, communicate and expand the commitment Comcast NBCUniversal has made to continue as an innovation leader.

How do you plan on getting there?

Much like the entrepreneurs we’ll nurture here, I’m running a startup too. And much like our selected startup teams, I have an amazing team behind me and beside me, and if I need resources, Comcast has ensured that we have state of the art resources, including premium space at their Battery headquarters. We’ll provide that same level of support to the entrepreneur community, whether the team is part of a cohort, borrowing some lab or office space or attending a community event. Through these programs, we’ll provide tailored, constantly evolving curriculum to teach founders how to be successful even as the marketplace transforms at lightning speed. We’ll provide the opportunity to leverage the Comcast NBCUniversal relationship and provide access to world-class technology, world-class talent and world-class resources.

I have been honored with the stewardship of an amazing opportunity, but as with any great endeavor, it takes more than one person to make it happen. We have been and will continue to assemble the most skilled team who are focused on providing the best possible experience for entrepreneurs. After all, they are the true heroes.