Few major businesses gravitate to Carroll, but if the county lands its first business incubator, it wouldn?t have to lure them from outside: It could develop its own.
The first step in building a business incubator, which would include rent-reduced office space for fledgling companies, will be a study that determines whether market demand warrants the help. The county recently received a state grant from the Technology Development Corp. for $25,000, which it will match to contract an independent company to do the study.
“It would be very big. As Carroll County continues to grow with residents, you?re seeing more businesses starting to look at the area,” said John Wasilisin, vice president and chiefoperating officer at TEDCO. “It would be a shot in the arm.”
The incubator would be the first in rapidly expanding Carroll, although there are 17 in Maryland, mostly in the Baltimore metropolitan area.
“The county is growing tremendously; there?s a lot of activity in the marketplace,” said Denise Beaver, deputy director of Carroll?s economic development. “It?s kind of like when you start any new business, you do market research.”
Harford County?s ever-increasing economy got a boost 10 years ago, when it landed its only incubator, and 14 companies have moved through the system in that time.
They?ve been so successful, the county aims to place several more throughout the area.
“It?s helped a great deal,” said Jim Richardson, Harford?s economic development coordinator. “For those companies, it?s been extremely critical.”
One computer-modeling company two men created out of their basement provides a prime example, Richardson said. They graduated from the incubator last year and now primarily work with the U.S. State Department.
“It was that interim step from going in their basement to paying substantial costs for an office, and they could set up in the incubator,” Richardson said. “It?s all about cash flow.”
