She was raised in Augusta and has returned home to serve as the Executive Director of Accelerate Augusta.
Augusta Technical College’s President, Dr. Jermaine Whirl, announced on December 3 that Sheffie Robinson had been selected for the position, effective December 16. Soon after, she met with ABD to talk about her role.
“It isn’t often that you’re charged to lead such a major project in a city you grew up in,” she said. “I have phone calls from people like, ‘Hey, I remember when you were just an itty-bitty thing, and now you’re doing this major thing.’ This is a legacy project for everybody involved, so it’s exciting and also a whole lot of anxiety too. But I’m up for the challenge.”
The former Chamber of Commerce building at 600 Broad Street is being repurposed for Augusta Tech’s microenterprise center, a partnership with the Downtown Development Authority. SRP Federal Credit Union is also a partner and will provide furnishing and technology with the name Accelerate Augusta Powered by SRP” for the next 10 years.
It will serve as a shared space location, an incubator for entrepreneurs and small business start-ups, as well as welcoming existing businesses.
In addition to nurturing new businesses, Robinson said activity at the building can help to redevelop that area of Broad Street.
“We have a lot of major commerce down here, we also have a lot of space available for some additional new commerce,” she said. “I don’t think people spend enough time down here to know what’s available and what could be. You have people at home who are thinking, ‘Well, I could start this business, but well, it’ll be at my house, or it’ll be in some strip mall?’ Why couldn’t it be downtown? They’re not even thinking that. So, it’s my job to relate to them.”
With an MBA from Georgia Southern University, Robinson is CEO and CTO of Shamrck, an AI-powered workforce development platform. She has 25 years of experience in software engineering, education, and entrepreneurship.
She is also a military spouse with three children and has lived in several cities across the U.S. But something told her it was time to come home.
“My steps were ordered. I didn’t know why I came back. Was facing some life changes, and something just said, ‘Go home’,” she shared. “And every step has led me to this. So, sometimes it’s one of those things that almost feels like divine intervention, where you have to be in place to take on something that you know you’re going to be successful at.”
While Accelerate Augusta will attract entrepreneurs, startups, and small businesses, Robinson realizes just six blocks away at the Georgia Cyber Innovation and Training Center are resources valuable to people using the incubator.
“The synergy there is really related to technology. We’ll have some businesses that will need more focus on retail. They need more focus on things like QuickBooks, but then you’ll have businesses that are building cyber security solutions for the government, for the DOD, and they need some support with an RFP that’s coming up, or they’re trying to get government contracts, then the resources at the Cyber Center are going to be beneficial for them,” she explained. “So, we will definitely partner with the Cyber Center for those higher technical asset items, especially if they’re related to cyber security.”
Robinson anticipates the center will open in the first quarter of 2025. While renovations are continuing, she is a technical instructor at Augusta Tech’s main campus. She is also reconnecting with her hometown, including as President of the T.W. Josey High School Alumni Foundation.
“Coming home to Augusta to lead Accelerate Augusta is deeply personal for me,” she said. “This city shaped my roots and my dreams, and now I have the chance to give back by helping other dreamers turn their ideas into lasting success.”
