Companies started by entrepreneurs face many challenges, including the need for space and funds.
The DeKalb County Government recently opened a business incubator in its facilities off of Annie Glidden Road. It's the brainchild of the County Board’s Economic Development Committee, which wanted to provide a space for small businesses to grow. Chairman Bob Brown explains:
“We certainly have had a program through the DeKalb County Economic Development Corporation focusing on larger businesses, but we thought there was an area to attract small business and an opportunity there for us to do more. One way of doing that was to reach out through the business incubator,” he said.
DeKalb’s program consists of office space that can be rented to firms, high speed Internet access, and space for meetings and events.
Earlier this month, organizers held a two-stage application process to attract tenants. Development Coordinator Mary Supple says potential participants come from a variety of fields.
“We have artists that are very much interested in coming into the building, financial people, lawyers have inquired, accounting people have inquired, software engineers have inquired, so we’re getting a wide range of interests," she said.
One successful applicant is Fox River Rendering, a 3D visualization studio. Owner Samantha Brown says her company creates computer models to help clients with architectural and landscape designs. For her, the business incubator is a source of stability, and a supporting partner.
“I was looking for help as a new business just to make sure that I kind of had all my ducks in a row, and somebody who’s been through this and is invested in my future is definitely attractive," she said.
Another tenant is DeKalb County Community Gardens, a nonprofit that grows organic vegetables, which are then donated to local schools and food banks. Director Dan Kenney says his firm is relatively new, having come on the scene in 2012. In his case, the incubator provides space for meetings, and allows his group to have a public face in the community.
“This is actually our first office location outside of my home. It’s a way of moving to be a more sustainable organization going into the future,” he said.
But business space is only part of the incubator. Tenants also use the facility to network and get their names out. While this is typically done with clients, Kenney found an unexpected partner for a new vocational farm.
"We’re in our second year of putting all the infrastructure in and getting everything in place. We need to visualize where we want to go and have a plan laid out for us. Now I can see Samantha [Brown] is right here. She has that know-how and that technology to help us do that," he said.
Both Samantha Brown and Dan Kenney are in-county, but there is no residency requirement for businesses. Rather, Chairman Bob Brown says they want to provide resources for a local presence.
“We know there are excellent resources right within DeKalb County in the way of people and services, and we can compete with any area in the country if people have the opportunity to do that. We’re trying to provide them the resources they need to grow our own, and hopefully our own, as they grow, will stay in DeKalb County and expand," he said.
The incubator already has plans to bring in small business experts from SCORE, a local nonprofit, and Elgin Community College to provide training. In the short term, Supple’s major goal is finding what she calls a "local angel" investor’s group to provide direct financial support to tenants.
DeKalb County Board Chair Mark Pietrowski Jr. says long-term expansion would involve a diversification of tenants.
“If we did expand, it wouldn’t necessarily be more office space, but maybe it would be an opportunity to partner with a company or something in terms of manufacturing space, or something like that where we could incubate a different type of business,” he said.
In the meantime, DeKalb’s incubator aims to fills its space with as many tenants as it can. Samantha Brown says while the application process was rigorous, the support has been invaluable.
"Definitely an interview on steroids. It was slightly intimidating but you could tell they were really invested too," she said.
The incubator’s second wave of applications ended July 23rd, but Supple says they are still accepting submissions on a rolling basis past the deadline. You can find more information on the incubator and application process at their website.