Incubate Your Business
If you’re a start-up or growing business, you may ask yourself: what is a business incubator? Business incubators are organizations that help existing companies or start-ups by aiding their growth. Incubator clients generally work in a shared space. This allows them to network with other businesses and utilize resources they wouldn’t normally have access to. In fact, business incubators have been very effective in producing successful companies.
According to the National Business Incubation Association:
- 87% of businesses graduated from their incubator programs are still in business.
- 84% of incubator clients stay within their community.
- NBIA estimates incubator clients and businesses have created about half a million jobs since 1980.
- For every 50 jobs generated at a business incubator, 25 more jobs are created in the community.
In association with the Northfield Enterprise Center, SPUR Northfield acts as a business incubator and accelerator. SPUR works directly with clients to determine their needs by offering them a variety of resources to help grow their business:
Coaching: SPUR Northfield is a program of the Northfield Enterprise Center. The NEC offers business counseling services to starting or existing businesses in the Northfield area free of charge.
Business Library: We have a great collection in our library! These books cover topics like hiring your first employee, marketing, start-up strategy, writing a business plan, franchising, entrepreneurship, etc. Don’t see a book we have? Tell us and we’ll order it for you. Business-related books are available for check out to NEC clients and SPUR members for free!
SPUR Scholarships: SPUR offers incubator scholarships based on income. Scholarship applicants need to be either working on a business plan or building a business.
Lunch-N-Learns: Lunch-N-Learns give knowledgable community members a chance to speak on a business-related topic. In fact, our February L&L will feature presentations on SBA loans and the Small Business Development Center program.
Hired Hands Interns: Incubator clients have access to interns from the local colleges. Experienced interns work with clients to complete smaller projects like market research or data entry. Clients get a certain number of hours a month included in their membership.
Blog post written by Michaela Morgan, SPUR Northfield Project Coordinator.
Want to learn more about our incubator program? Visit: http://spurnorthfield.com/resources/
Source: http://www.incubator.ucf.edu/incubationprogram/UCFIPfacts.html
