Return to CDC in the News
November 2005
17
Business incubator to go under CDC umbrella
BY MARK WINEKA
SALISBURY POST
A task force trying to launch a Salisbury-Rowan business
incubator decided Wednesday that the best place to start might be with the
Salisbury Community Development Corp.
Since the late 1990s, the CDC has displayed significant
success in the residential component of its mission -- getting low- to
moderate-income people into new or rehabilitated homes which they own, not rent.
The program has been successful especially in the West End,
Jersey City and Park Avenue neighborhoods.
But the CDC also has an overlooked business development side
to its mission.
Meeting for two hours at Salisbury City Hall Wednesday, task
force members first latched onto a concept offered by Rowan County Chamber of
Commerce President Bob Wright.
Wright suggested forming a non-profit organization that would
represent and keep together all the organizations represented by the task force.
Those parties included the Chamber, Salisbury-Rowan Economic
Development Commission, the Salisbury CDC, Rowan Business Alliance,
Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, Salisbury city government and Livingstone and
Catawba colleges.
Within the task force are the talent, resources and expertise
needed to help, grow and find businesses for Rowan County, Wright said, warning
that the moment a business incubator became the property of one organization,
the other agencies would lose interest.
This kind of organization could sit down with local
companies, entrepreneurs or businesses looking to relocate here and possibly
give them the access to staff, facilities and other resources they need to grow
or be successful, Wright suggested.
The non-profit organization also could be the depository for
venture capital raised to help these enterprises, Wright said.
Wright suggested that formation of the non-profit entity and
keeping all the key groups together would be more important than hiring a
business incubator director.
"It's a whole different structure, but it has a lot of
positives," Wright said.
Chanaka Yatawara, executive director of the Salisbury CDC,
said he thought hiring a staff person for the incubator would be important, in
light of how busy all the agencies are with their own programs.
""We're all busy," Wright agreed, "but I can't think of a
better way to spend our time."
Joe Morris, planning and community development manager for
Salisbury, and accountant David McCoy, co-chairman for the task force, suggested
that the CDC actually offered a non-profit vehicle already in place.
Brian Miller, a Salisbury banker and chairman of the
Salisbury Planning Board, said the CDC would be a good place for the incubator
to start, given the CDC's mission of community development.
"One of the last things we need in this community is another
organization," Miller said.
Task force members, including Wright, then agreed that their
business incubation effort could become an advisory board to the CDC. McCoy said
that approach would minimize costs and tap into the resources everyone around
the table represented.
"I think it's the quickest way to get on the road," said
Richard Perkins, head of the Rowan Business Alliance. "It works for me."
Heidi Whitesell, director of the Small Business Center at
Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, said the CDC looked to be a perfect fit.
Agreeing with Yatawara, she said the business incubation effort probably should
have a separate director or staff person dedicated solely to it.
The task force members stressed the importance of venture
capital for any business incubator.
They said the advisory board envisioned could be a recruiter,
screener and mentor for businesses who eventually would take their requests for
capital to a separate board for approval.
Miller said venture capital could be the "hook," the magnet
to draw companies here or allow existing companies to grow.
Some "reasonable strings" should be attached to that venture
capital so it could be replenished once a business incubator got started, Miller
said.
The incubator envisioned here wouldn't necessarily follow the
bricks-and-mortar approach often tried elsewhere.
In that concept, many different entrepreneurs set up their
fledgling businesses under one roof -- maybe an old mill building, for example.
Those businesses then share resources and staff, benefit from cheap space and
work to become strong enough to make it on their own.
The Salisbury-Rowan task force would rather focus on
providing venture capital to grow existing businesses and find other companies
in the region which could relocate here and create more jobs.
The task force met Wednesday at Salisbury City Hall as a
follow-up to a final report given Oct. 27 by Brent Lane, project manager for the
University of North Carolina Center for Competitive Economies.
Lane and his staff concluded that business incubation is "a
strong economic development opportunity for Salisbury."
Rowan County has a healthy base of "local growth prospects,"
upwards of 300, that could benefit from an incubation strategy, the report said.
Rowan also could position itself to attract and recruit regional prospects with
the right kind of plan, Lane offered.
Among Lane's recommendations:
* Formation of an Angel Investment Network to provide venture
capital for worthy entrepreneurs.
* The marketing of Salisbury as an "inter-regional
entrepreneurial center."
* Guidance from an "Entrepreneurial Council."
* Mobilization of support resources.
The Salisbury CDC has a strategic planning meeting today, and
Yatawara plans to bring up the task force's idea to put a business incubator
under the CDC's umbrella.
Contact Mark Wineka at 704-797-4263, or mwineka@salisburypost.com.
Return to Top
