Business Incubator

A business incubator is a unique intensive program designed to help the participant ensure their success as an entrepreneur. It is similar to the Small Business Development Centers created by the United States Small Business Association, but it differs from these primarily in that Small Business Development Centers are required by law to help anyone who contacts them, whereas a business incubator must be applied for and only helps select people with specific, successful business ideas. Because it is so specific and so intensive, eighty-seven percent of people who graduate from a business incubator find success in their small business. They are specifically designed for people who are starting businesses or who are in the early stage of business development, making them differ also from research and technology parks that work on large-scale business projects throughout various periods in the venture’s lifespan. In 2005, twenty-seven thousand companies received business assistance services from a business incubator, helping over a hundred thousand employees generating more than seventeen billion dollars in capital.

There are a number of standard tools that a business incubator gives to their clients. The first and most important tool is that of the basics of business development and later, more complex business training tools. Another important facet of a business incubator is that they are primarily designed to generate a helpful network of clients, investors and mentors for their entrepreneurs. In this way, business incubators help get their clients on their feet, so to speak, and moving forward in the network that they have created for themselves. Finances are also a huge part of any incubator, assisting entrepreneurs with accounting and financial skills, as well as helping them find investors and venture capital with which to start their businesses. Having adequate access to solid loans is also important, and most incubators team up with banks to help provide small businesses the money they need. Fine-tuned business skills like presentation skills, business appropriateness and etiquette, networking skills and marketing skills are also taught in a business incubator. Finally, clients will learn how to create effective teams and management groups, as all successful entrepreneurs know that a communicative, helpful and critical team behind them is essential to their success.

Business incubators offer positivity to more than just their clients and the future network of their clients. They focus exclusively on entrepreneurs creating lucrative small businesses, especially those run by women or minorities. Creating successful small businesses is crucial to small economies, as it creates active jobs and wealth to be had, all the while diversifying and strengthening the local economy. A successful business incubator could very well be the answer to revitalizing downtrodden and poor communities while fortifying their local industries and economies.