Published: March 22, 2006 03:49 pm            

Incubators help businesses grow

Enid could get a step up in developing business if the small business incubator project, destined for Autry Technology Center is approved by the Oklahoma Legislature.

Area legislators have asked the state to appropriate $2.5 million to jump start the economic development project.

Sen. Patrick Anderson’s incubator bill did not get a hearing in committee, but could be part of a large bond issue. Rep. Mike Jackson, R-Enid, has a bill in the House.

With in-kind assistance from Autry, in the form of appropriations, grants and other support, the project total is about $3.7 million.

“We think if we build it, they will come,” said Molly Helm, marketing director at Autry Tech.

Once the business incubator is built, Autry Tech can provide the expertise to support fledgling businesses until they get off the ground.

Plans are to construct the facility on the east end of the school, close to the business and industrial training centers.

The project will assist in countering economic deterioration in the rural region. A decline in relative incomes and under-employment, due to people leaving the area, have plagued northwest Oklahoma in recent years. Counties served by the incubator project would be Alfalfa, Garfield, Grant, Major and Noble. Per capita income in 1999 for the Enid labor market was $22,478, which is 78.74 percent of national per capita income during the same period, according to government statistics.

A business incubator must be flexible enough to accommodate any type of business, although the area is not designed for retail-type businesses, Helm said. Those types of businesses can be developed in Autry Tech’s small business development center.

Space must be flexible, because businesses will rotate in and out, usually about every three years.

Helm said 80 percent of startup businesses fail in the first five years. Those coming from an incubator program have an 80 percent success rate, she said, while only 20 percent fail.

“Enid is known for growing our own, and we want to help facilitate that” Helm said. “It’s very hard to start a business, and our goal is to help entrepreneurs succeed.”

“There are a lot of potholes that people don’t think about when they start up a business. We can help them over those,” said Dale Shaffer, head of the small business development program.

There are a number of ways to do an incubator program. Some early incubators provided a building but no support, while some provided assistance, but no facilities. The incubator plan for Enid attempts to make the best of all the existing small business development centers, Shaffer said.

He will guide people through the initial stages of starting a business, whether its a “mom and pop” business wanting to expand or someone starting from scratch.

One goal is to reduce initial startup costs. Plus, incubator clients are exempt from state income tax for five years or, in some instances, 10 years. Support includes bid assistance, grant writing, marketing and other fundamentals.

The number of businesses that can be served in the 20,000 square feet of planned space depends on the size of the businesses.

“We want it to be flexible,” Shaffer said.

Businesses that can be developed in a small business center are light industrial, service and technology.

The facility would be wired for e-commerce and have individual telephone outlets and a full-time administrative assistant, who can answer the phone and take messages when a business owner is not there.

Support to be provided includes business planning and funding sources, market analysis and planning, financial evaluation, analysis and planning, operational planning, efficiency and procurement, business training for management and employees, economical space rental, plant and employee safety, government contracting assistance, conference room and video conferencing, business resource library, computer and Internet access and fax and copier service.

“We’ve had some inquiries, but until we get through the funding process we really can’t tell them anything,” Helm said.

The idea is to get people through the process in three years, Shaffer said, to get people started, then help someone else.

Although there are no firm numbers of potential clients, Shaffer is positive he can fill the building.

Eighty-four percent of businesses who start up in small business incubators remain in the area where they started, Helm said.

“I hope we can generate more Advance Food’s and CadCom’s. I think there are already some spin-offs that would fit in that,” Shaffer said.