2006 Demographic Profile Task Force Updates Business Incubation Entrepreneurship Location One Information System   New ISU Business Program

                                    April 2006

Dear Reader:

This is the Economic Development Council’s monthly newsletter. You will notice that this month, we have a new masthead and new name. In keeping with our Navigation theme, we have decided to call the newsletter New Directions. The EDC is heading in a new direction. We are taking charge and leading the community to places we have never been before. We hope that you come along for the ride. 

Over the next several months you will see more information about the projects we are working on below. Please be involved. We promise not to take too much of your time, but we need your valuable input. Whether it’s the proposed business incubator, mentoring and entrepreneurship education or access to capital, your knowledge and information is helpful and valuable to the community.

I hope you enjoy this newsletter. As always, call if you have any suggestions or comments on what you have read or would like to see in future newletters.

Marty Vanags, CEO

2006 Demographic Profile - top of page

We have been receiving several calls from people wondering when the 2006 Demographic Profile will be available. There's good news for everyone - the information has been gathered and has been sent to our designer! The demographic profile should be available to the public in late April. We will have many copies available at our office, located on the second floor of the Central Illinois Regional Airport in suite 201. Call us at (309) 661-6332 and we can set aside some for you to pick up.

Task Force Updates - top of page

One Voice Task Force

Two of the task forces formed after the creation of the strategic plan, the One Voice Task Force and the Business Infrastructure Task Force, have been very active. Recently, the One Voice Task Force has decided to support four projects in McLean County: funding for the design and creation of the Town of Normal's Multi-Modal Transportation Center, funding for the City of Bloomington's Cultural District, funding for the continued study of the East-Side Transportation Corridor and funding for the creation of a business incubator. The incubator is a joint project of the EDC, Illinois State University, the Town of Normal and the City of Bloomington. The task force is also planning a trip to Washington, D.C. this summer to lobby for these projects. For more information on each of the projects and the task force's position, download the following PDF files:

• Multi-Modal Transportation Center
• City of Bloomington Cultural District
• East-Side Transportation Corridor
• Business Incubator

Business Infrastructure Task Force

Recently, the Incubator Subcommittee of the Business Infrastructure Task Force traveled to Davenport, Iowa, and Champaign, Ill., to visit their business incubators. Davenport's NewVentures incubator does not have a university affiliation while Champaign's EnterpriseWorks incubator is associated with the University of Illinois. The subcommittee gathered information on how the incubators are governed and operated, how they are funded, tenants' length of stay and the overall success of each of the incubators. Members of the subcommittee will also be attending the National Business Incubator Association conference in May.

Two other subcommittees of the Business Infrastructure Task Force, the Access to Capital Subcommittee and the Mentoring and Entrepreneurship Subcommittee, have met several times. The Access to Capital Subcommittee has been researching Community Development Corporations and other funding resources. The Mentoring and Entrepreneurship Subcommittee is working on creating opportunities for entrepreneurs to meet and discuss their issues in order to learn from each other.

To learn more about business incubators and entrepreneurship, please read the two articles below, Business Incubation and Entrepreneurship Education & Developing an Entrepreneurial Community.

Business Incubation - top of page

by Margo Willard

The entrepreneurial spirit and successful development of local small business has an ally in the support practice of business incubation. Originally developed in the late 1950’s, business incubation is described by the National Business Incubation Association (NBIA) as a “business support process that accelerates the successful development of start-up and fledgling companies by providing them with an array of targeted resources and services.” 

According to the NBIA, the most common goals of a business incubator include creating jobs in a community, enhancing a community’s entrepreneurial climate, retaining businesses in a community, building or accelerating growth in a local industry and diversifying local economies. In order to achieve these goals, business incubators provide management guidance and mentoring, shared premises and reduced rent, technical assistance and networking opportunities in an effort to cultivate a financially viable and self-supporting business.

With over 1,000 incubators in North America, the practice of business incubation has diversified and adapted to meet the needs of a variety of different communities and markets. According to the NBIA, the most common types of business incubators include mixed-use incubators (47%), which attract companies from a variety of industries, and technology incubators (37%). These successful incubators are commonly sponsored by academic institutions, government entities, economic development organizations and private companies who provide financial support, serving as a parent or host organizations to incubators.

Successful incubator programs have changed the local economic landscapes of many communities throughout North America. The NBIA estimates that nearly half a million jobs have been created since 1980 as a result of incubation programs, and that for every 50 jobs an incubator client creates, 25 more jobs are generated in the local community. Roughly 85% of “graduates” from business incubators, those clients who achieve predetermined goals and leave the program, are still fully functioning businesses.

For examples of successful business incubation programs, visit: http://www.nbia.org/resource_center/success/index.php

http://www.qbtc.org/

http://www.tech.com/

Entrepreneurship Education & Developing an Entrepreneurial Community - top of page

by Margo Willard

The National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship (NDE), an initiative of the Public Forum Institute, describes entrepreneurship education as a process “designed to inspire and guide potential entrepreneurs into the field and to enhance the skills and necessary knowledge of current and perspective entrepreneurs.” Entrepreneurs, those individuals engaged in the process of starting and growing one’s own business or idea, create nearly 600,000 – 800,000 new businesses in the United States each year. The NDE insists that these small businesses are the foundation for employment growth and positively impact the local, regional and national economies. Their research also suggests that firms of fewer than 20 employees generate the majority of net new jobs in the U.S. and that new jobs from start-ups lend an “immediate and significant boost to the economy.” To foster the growth of small businesses and support the entrepreneurial spirit, communities across the country are combining the use of small business mentoring, entrepreneurship education and business incubation in an attempt to develop entrepreneurial communities.

In an article co-authored by Thomas Lyons, director of the Center for Research on Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development at the University of Louisville, several primary characteristics of an entrepreneurial community are identified. These characteristics may include an abundance of entrepreneurs ready for new ventures, a highly visible and established cadre of entrepreneurs ready to assist up and comers and lastly, a community dedicated to the principles of entrepreneurship, which include an openness to change and invest in the conditions necessary to encourage entrepreneurship.

Communities across the country, like the Research Triangle in North Carolina and the Entrepreneurial League System (ELS), which operates throughout 12 counties in West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky, have been successfully fostering entrepreneurial activity. The ELS, for example, has developed a system by which entrepreneurs are identified and recruited, participate in a coaching system to develop their skills and are able to take advantage of available resources to improve their technical, managerial and entrepreneurial skills. According to ELS, this program offers entrepreneurs the opportunity to progress to higher levels of skill and achievement in building their company and offers the community new talent, new business and the potential to create wealth and transform the local economy. 

To learn more about the National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship visit: http://www.publicforuminstitute.org/nde/.

To read Thomas Lyon’s article entitled, “Building Entrepreneurial Communities: The Appropriate Role of Enterprise Development Activities,” go to: http://creed.louisville.edu/Building_Entrepreneurial_Communities.pdf.

To read more about the Entrepreneurial League System, go to: http://www.advantagevalleyels.com/.

Location One Information System - top of page

The Location One Information System (LOIS) database is a centralized real estate locator service specifically designed to aid economic development. LOIS takes the form of a Web site hosting available properties from thousands of localities spread across 5 states. At the EDC, the LOIS database is maintained by our graduate assistant, Ken Springer, who gathers information and monitors the local real estate market in order to maintain a comprehensive list of available sites. By maintaining LOIS and keeping information sorted and current, businesses looking to locate or expand in Mclean County can perform county-wide searches for commercial real estate that meets their specific business needs. Each listing contains a wealth of information including tax information, transportation and site specifics such as loading docks and zoning. In conjunction with other EDC activities, LOIS is an effective tool for those looking to build and bring jobs into our community.

Visit LOIS at our Web site at: http://www.bnbiz.org/LOIS.asp.