Former Greenfield star Hinton finds excitement as a business owner
By Paul Durham paul@wilsontimes.com | 265-7808
Ten years ago, Jarred Hinton was about to head off to Lenoir-Rhyne University to play basketball after graduating from Greenfield School. Like a lot of young men in his shoes, playing professional basketball was a dream.
He had no idea that he would find that same passion in solar energy a decade later.
Hinton, now 29, is part-owner of Elly Solar, an offshoot of Elly Smart Home, a home security business based in Chandler, Arizona, that was started by fellow Wilson native Jermaine McNair. Hinton helped McNair, the older brother of Hinton’s good friend and former Greenfield teammate Brian McNair, start the solar energy imprint. Hinton, who lives in Wilson, graduated from Barry University in south Florida in 2019 with a master’s degree in sports management, but he wasn’t sure what his immediate future would be, but he had been interested in solar energy for some time.
“I always had a inquiring mind,” Hinton said. “So, I used to look at renewable energy in a way as it being very, very cool. You know, Elon Musk with his electric car and stuff like that kind of fascinated me and seeing solar — being in eastern North Carolina you didn’t see it as much — but I was kind of very well traveled so I started seeing it around. And I had the idea and I did a little bit of research, and I thought I may just be working for a company, I didn’t know that I’d be pretty much part of a company and being part owner of something like this, but it came very, very fast and it’s something to be proud of.”
He learned that Jermaine Dupree was also interested in doing something with solar energy.
“So he came into town and we talked and we formed a plan to create our own company,” Hinton said. “We wanted to target — us both being from from Wilson — we wanted to provide something new to the area. And working with Wilson’s renewable energy program allows homeowners to save money by producing their own energy. So what we do is create an energy solutions company. We pretty much help homeowners manage their energy by going solar.”
Hinton made a splash as a freshman point guard at Fike High in the winter of 2005-06 when he and Jeremy Atkinson found their way into the starting lineup for the Golden Demons. But after his sophomore year at Fike, Hinton decided to transfer to Greenfield, where he reclassified as a sophomore and played three years for the Knights.
Hinton was also a soccer standout at Greenfield, where he landed on the North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association 1-A all-state team, but basketball was his true calling. Hinton was a four-time Wilson Times All-Area selection, establishing himself as a pass-first point guard. Despite missing seven weeks of his senior season with a broken finger, Hinton helped Greenfield to a state runner-up finish in 2010 before signing with Lenoir-Rhyne.
However, he only stayed in Hickory for one year before transferring to Guilford College in Greensboro, earning his bachelor’s degree in sports management in 2015. Hinton came back to Wilson and helped his parents, Vince and Wanda Hinton, run their residential services business. That experience has helped steer him in business.
“We’ve been doing this family business, since I was about 7 years old so I was always around the business and what we basically do is we provide a service, and we cater to others,” Hinton said. “And it kind of it was instilled in me so I always was a very caring person. I always wanted to be helpful for others. And what I’m doing now is I’m also providing a service, and the service is helping homeowners produce their own energy and save the money on their electric bill.”
He also worked at Bridgestone for eight months, hoping to save enough money to start a company.
“And then my love for sports really kind of drew me out of Bridgestone and I actually went back to school,” he said.
Hinton landed in Miami at Barry University where he worked long hours as a sports information student assistant.
“I worked some of the games for basically all the sports taking some stats and did some operations with the website and keeping it updated,” he said.
Hinton said that his sports background has been a boon in the business world.
“I’ve had some great coaches and great leaders and met a lot of good friends and been able to take some gems from them,” he said. “You know, sports kind of relates to the world when it comes to instilling items like discipline and work ethic and doing what it takes and kind of having this, this competitive edge to wake up every day and just do better find ways to innovate and create. So you know just translating it to the business field is that I’m able to reach out to people and form some great bonds and networking, and those people are able to send me to people that they may know.”
Hinton said that he gets just as excited with his own business as he once did playing basketball and soccer.
“Growing up as kids, we always wanted to play in the NBA or something like that,” he said. “And then we just find different avenues as we grow up. And it’s something that I’ve grown to have a strong passion for just as much as I love playing sports.”
For those youngsters trying to figure out what they want to do when they grow up, Hinton offers some advice.
“You never know exactly what is going to be your life fulfillment, so you just have to just keep an open mind and explore and go 100% in everything you do,” he said. “Just as much as you practiced, just as much as you want to be the best basketball player, the best soccer player, now you take the extra time out to reach something new, listen to something new, and just stay open-minded and have that drive for knowledge.”
By Paul Durham paul@wilsontimes.com | 265-7808
Ten years ago, Jarred Hinton was about to head off to Lenoir-Rhyne University to play basketball after graduating from Greenfield School. Like a lot of young men in his shoes, playing professional basketball was a dream.
He had no idea that he would find that same passion in solar energy a decade later.
Hinton, now 29, is part-owner of Elly Solar, an offshoot of Elly Smart Home, a home security business based in Chandler, Arizona, that was started by fellow Wilson native Jermaine McNair. Hinton helped McNair, the older brother of Hinton’s good friend and former Greenfield teammate Brian McNair, start the solar energy imprint. Hinton, who lives in Wilson, graduated from Barry University in south Florida in 2019 with a master’s degree in sports management, but he wasn’t sure what his immediate future would be, but he had been interested in solar energy for some time.
“I always had a inquiring mind,” Hinton said. “So, I used to look at renewable energy in a way as it being very, very cool. You know, Elon Musk with his electric car and stuff like that kind of fascinated me and seeing solar — being in eastern North Carolina you didn’t see it as much — but I was kind of very well traveled so I started seeing it around. And I had the idea and I did a little bit of research, and I thought I may just be working for a company, I didn’t know that I’d be pretty much part of a company and being part owner of something like this, but it came very, very fast and it’s something to be proud of.”
He learned that Jermaine Dupree was also interested in doing something with solar energy.
“So he came into town and we talked and we formed a plan to create our own company,” Hinton said. “We wanted to target — us both being from from Wilson — we wanted to provide something new to the area. And working with Wilson’s renewable energy program allows homeowners to save money by producing their own energy. So what we do is create an energy solutions company. We pretty much help homeowners manage their energy by going solar.”
Hinton made a splash as a freshman point guard at Fike High in the winter of 2005-06 when he and Jeremy Atkinson found their way into the starting lineup for the Golden Demons. But after his sophomore year at Fike, Hinton decided to transfer to Greenfield, where he reclassified as a sophomore and played three years for the Knights.
Hinton was also a soccer standout at Greenfield, where he landed on the North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association 1-A all-state team, but basketball was his true calling. Hinton was a four-time Wilson Times All-Area selection, establishing himself as a pass-first point guard. Despite missing seven weeks of his senior season with a broken finger, Hinton helped Greenfield to a state runner-up finish in 2010 before signing with Lenoir-Rhyne.
However, he only stayed in Hickory for one year before transferring to Guilford College in Greensboro, earning his bachelor’s degree in sports management in 2015. Hinton came back to Wilson and helped his parents, Vince and Wanda Hinton, run their residential services business. That experience has helped steer him in business.
“We’ve been doing this family business, since I was about 7 years old so I was always around the business and what we basically do is we provide a service, and we cater to others,” Hinton said. “And it kind of it was instilled in me so I always was a very caring person. I always wanted to be helpful for others. And what I’m doing now is I’m also providing a service, and the service is helping homeowners produce their own energy and save the money on their electric bill.”
He also worked at Bridgestone for eight months, hoping to save enough money to start a company.
“And then my love for sports really kind of drew me out of Bridgestone and I actually went back to school,” he said.
Hinton landed in Miami at Barry University where he worked long hours as a sports information student assistant.
“I worked some of the games for basically all the sports taking some stats and did some operations with the website and keeping it updated,” he said.
Hinton said that his sports background has been a boon in the business world.
“I’ve had some great coaches and great leaders and met a lot of good friends and been able to take some gems from them,” he said. “You know, sports kind of relates to the world when it comes to instilling items like discipline and work ethic and doing what it takes and kind of having this, this competitive edge to wake up every day and just do better find ways to innovate and create. So you know just translating it to the business field is that I’m able to reach out to people and form some great bonds and networking, and those people are able to send me to people that they may know.”
Hinton said that he gets just as excited with his own business as he once did playing basketball and soccer.
“Growing up as kids, we always wanted to play in the NBA or something like that,” he said. “And then we just find different avenues as we grow up. And it’s something that I’ve grown to have a strong passion for just as much as I love playing sports.”
For those youngsters trying to figure out what they want to do when they grow up, Hinton offers some advice.
“You never know exactly what is going to be your life fulfillment, so you just have to just keep an open mind and explore and go 100% in everything you do,” he said. “Just as much as you practiced, just as much as you want to be the best basketball player, the best soccer player, now you take the extra time out to reach something new, listen to something new, and just stay open-minded and have that drive for knowledge.”
