Posted January 27, 2009

CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee -- Kathryn Foster, director of Small Business and Entrepreneurship for the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce, is serving on a review team for the National Business Incubation Association (NBIA), which has been contracted by TVA and the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) to develop two products to strengthen business incubators.

One product is a Web-based benchmarking tool that would permit incubator managers to determine if they are following industry-accepted best practices and, for areas of concern, allow them to access online information that could help them improve practices. 

“Second, NBIA will develop tools and protocols for teams of top quality incubator managers to use in reviewing other incubators at their invitation,” said Foster, who directs the Hamilton County Business Development Center. “Teams of two incubator managers will first review written documents, such as budgets, client applications and graduation policies, and then spend a day at an incubator, interviewing the manager, several clients, graduates and stakeholders.”
 
A written report will result, indicating where the incubator was performing strongly and any issues to which the manager might want to give attention, Foster said.  The teams will provide recommendations and suggested options where appropriate.  For this project, NBIA will develop the tools, protocols and report template, and also train the teams of managers.

“There will be at least three review teams in the Northern ARC region and three teams in the TVA region, ” Foster said. “We think the projects will result in more effective incubators throughout the ARC/TVA regions and provide valuable learning experiences to all incubator managers.” Foster will serve on the TVA region team in that includes 28 other incubators, besides the BDC.

Foster, who was named head of the BDC in 2006, serves on the board of the Building Owners and Managers Association Chattanooga.  She was recently appointed President Elect-Elect (2011) of the North River Rotary Club.