Ozark Chamber of Commerce officials yesterday announced plans to roll out a business incubator in partnership with Springfield businessman Doug Pitt and retired Ozark businessman Carl Hefner.
During a news conference on site, 1471 W. South St., chamber Executive Director Dori Grinder said the incubator would open in October in the South Pointe Center owned by Pitt. She said the chamber also plans to move its operations into the building, dubbed the Carl G. Hefner Enterprise Center on behalf of the project’s lead benefactor.
“The center will provide support services for startup entrepreneurs as well as established businesses, and encourage these businesses to plant their roots in our community,” Grinder said in a news release.
Pitt, the owner of ServiceWorld Computer Center, has come on as a program donor and offered the chamber a discounted lease rate, according to the release.
The chamber project is funded by a $150,000 capital campaign that began in April. With cash commitments and in-kind contributions, organizers have raised more than half of its goal to help fund construction, furniture, equipment, supplies and management of the Enterprise Center and the chamber move.
The incubator is named after lead benefactor Hefner, a retired pharmacist who owned and operated Hixson Drug on Ozark’s public square for 33 years before selling in 2012.
Designed by Ozark-based Torgerson Design Partners, the incubator includes nine tenant spaces ranging from 58 to 279 square feet, two chamber conference rooms and offices, and a multifunctional Dream Center to foster collaboration among entrepreneurs.
The moves in Ozark follow a
business incubator trend in recent years.
According to the National Business Incubator Association, there were more than 1,250 incubators in the U.S. last fall, up from only 12 in 1980.
The largest to launch in Springfield is The eFactory at Missouri State University’s Robert W. Plaster Center for Free Enterprise and Business Development in downtown. Across southwest Missouri, Joplin has the Joseph Newman Innovation Center, Purdy has Project Genesis and West Plains has the Ozarks Small Business Incubator.
The NBIA estimates that in 2011, North American incubators assisted about 49,000 startups, provided full-time employment for nearly 200,000 workers and generated annual revenue of almost $15 billion among its tenants.
