Entrepreneurial Incubator Projects, 2005-06
Projects in seven rural communities received grants for 2005-06 through the Entrepreneurial Incubators program.
- Ashe County
- The grant is helping renovated space for a commercial kitchen facility in a business incubator, answering a need cited by food industry entrepreneurs in Ashe, Alleghany, Watauga and Wilkes counties. The kitchen is expected to open in spring 2007. The project is a partnership between Ashe County Economic Development and Family Central, a community center housing the local Partnership for Children and job services.
- Bladen County
- Bloomin' Agri-Industrial Inc. is constructing a new industrial incubator in the Elizabethtown Airport Industrial Park. The project will target small businesses in agricultural and food-based industries. Plans provide for companies graduating out of the incubator to locate in other buildings in the industrial park.
- City of Kinston
- The city is renovating and expanding the existing Kinston Enterprise Center to create several small offices for microenterprises and equip a kitchen for food industry entrepreneurs. A new roof, storm drain and soundproofing will further improve the facility.
- Transylvania County
- The county's new Blue Ridge Business Incubator is being built adjacent to a vocational center in Brevard. Potential clients include graduates of Brevard College, Blue Ridge Community College and Western Carolina University's Entrepreneurship New Ventures Institute.
- City of Wilson
- The city will renovate and equip a downtown building to serve as a regional incubator and a high-speed telework center for the Upper Coastal Plains Region. Tenant entrepreneurs must commit to workshops designed to help them graduate from the incubator after three years. The facility is expected to open in spring 2007.
- Town of Wadesboro
- The city's New Ventures Business Development Center will target minority and women entrepreneurs. It is being created as part of the new Business and Technology Telecenter and will be located in a renovated textile mill building now owned by South Piedmont Community College. Work is expected to be completed in spring 2007.
- Yancey County
- The Cultural Resources Commission is
renovating
a historic building into the Mountain Heritage Center, a crafts incubator and music recording studio. Programs will include apprenticeships with master craftsmen and joint wholesale and retail marketing under a new Yancey Arts brand.
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