The UNCW Entrepreneurship Center will sponsor the kick-off event of the 2010 NC Entrepreneurship Summit on Sunday, Sept. 19 at the Hilton Wilmington Riverside with state leaders.

State Secretary of Commerce J. Keith Crisco and State Small Business Commissioner Scott Daugherty will discuss policies as part of the Entrepreneurship Center speaker series from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

“The speaker event on Sunday evening is a tremendous opportunity for our region’s entrepreneurial community to interact with state leaders and other entrepreneurs from across the North Carolina participating in this important conference,” said Jonathan Rowe, director of the Entrepreneurship Center in a press release.

Founder and CEO of KeraNetics, Kim Westmoreland from Winston-Salem, will also present on his experience as a biotechnology entrepreneur that evening. A reception will follow.

Entrepreneurs from all over the state will convene in Wilmington for the summit. About 250 participants registered by the early bird registration deadline last month, said Randall Johnson, director of the N.C. Biotechnology Center’s southeastern office and lead organizer of the summit. He said he expects about 400 statewide and local business leaders, policy makers, entrepreneurial thought leaders and investors to attend.

The day-long summit on Monday, Sept. 20 opens at 7:30 a.m. Fran Scarlett, regional director of the Small Business Technology Development Center at UNCW and Gene Haley, CEO of Wilmington Pharmaceuticals will be the emcees for the program, which begins at 8:45 a.m.

The program will cover a range of topics including a panel discussion on building entrepreneurial communities, financing entrepreneurship in challenging economic times, a regional entrepreneurship showcase video and discussion with five diverse entrepreneurs from the area and the presentation of the N.C. Entrepreneur Hall of Fame award to Fred Eshelman, founder of PPD Inc.

Register for Sunday evening’s kick-off event at http://uncwec.org or for Monday’s summit at http://www.ncentresummit.org.