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“Since it opened in 1988, more than 500 businesses have started in the BDC and 438 still exist or have sold to another entrepreneur,” said Kathryn Foster, Chamber director of small business and entrepreneurship and director of the BDC. “Collectively they have employed thousands of Chattanoogans.”
According to Foster, the BDC generated $7.5 million in gross wages during 2007. “That’s pumping a lot of money into the local economy,” she said.
The facility -- the largest business incubator under one roof in the state and the third largest in the country -- was honored by the National Business Incubation Association as the Incubator of the Year in 1997.
Among the BDC businesses and entrepreneurs honored over the years are:
- Bentco Office Solutions which won the NASA Kennedy Space Center HUBZone Subcontractor of the Year Award
- Financial Solutions N etwork,recipient of the SBA Minority Small Business Advocate Award
- Fire Eye Productions head Kris Simmons who received the Tennessee SBA Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
Simmons, who graduated from the BDC in 2004 and moved to offices on 8th Street, has nothing but praise for the incubator. “The BDC offered an affordable, centralized business location that enabled me to be more productive in selling and producing work,” he said.
The BDC provides start-up businesses office or manufacturing space at belowmarket rental rates. Tenants have access to clerical support, a fax machine, copier and postage machine. The Tennessee Small Business Development Center, located in the BDC, provides a business library, computer and video centers, as well as business counseling services, available to BDC entrepreneurs free of charge.
Putting start-up businesses in the proximity of other emerging entrepreneurs is another BDC benefit. “Some of my best friends and referral partners came from the relationships I formed with other BDC graduates,” Simmons said. “The camaraderie and synergy made possible by 60 small businesses under one roof all trying to accomplish the same goal is very powerful.”
Deede Gram is among the grateful BDC graduates. She launched her home decorating business, The Brick Path Studio, at the incubator. Four years later she moved to her Williams Street location.
“When it was time for us to leave, they offered guidance,” Gram said. “They were there when I began looking at leases and they came out to one of the spaces to give me their opinion of it. I had a couple of fearful moments but I never questioned that I was doing the right thing.”
The BDC frequently hears from alumni who attribute their success to the good start they received at the incubator. “Paul McKee of McKee Foods was a tenant here twice,” Foster said. “He wrote us a glowing letter about how much he appreciated the opportunity to grow his business skills with other energetic people.”
Foster, who has more than 13 years of experience working with chambers of commerce, joined the Chattanooga Area Chamber in 2005 as events coordinator and served as membership development manager prior to her appointment at the BDC.
“Some people who are starting a business by themselves or with one partner may think they’re too small or too young to locate their company in the BDC,” Foster said. “Nothing could be further from the truth. No business is too small or too young to become a part of the incubator.”
For more information about the BDC or about leasing space in the facility, contact Foster at 423-752-9406 or at kfoster@chattanoogachamber.com. |
