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The Business Incubator Center
Grand Junction, Colo.
Jon Maraschin, executive director
Year established: 1987
Incubator size: 60,000 square feet (35,000 square feet mixed-use client space)
Incubator clients: 64
Incubator graduates: 260
Achievements: Called Western Colorado Business Development Corporation at the time, The Business Incubator Center of Grand Junction was not even a decade old when in 1996 it was honored as NBIA’s Incubator of the Year. Now, having just celebrated its 25th anniversary, BIC can look back on having served more than 25,000 businesses in its area, many of them through nonresident programs. More than 80 percent of its resident companies remained in business five years after graduation.
Dealing with both start-up and existing businesses, BIC has helped to create and maintain many thousands of businesses in the Grand Junction and Mesa County area. The program administers a broad range of economic development and entrepreneur support activities, including a local business loan fund, a commercial kitchen, the local Small Business Development Center, the Mesa County Enterprise Zone and the Western Slope Office of Technology Transfer.
Continuity of vision has played a big part in BIC’s success: It has had only three executive directors in its 25 years of operation. Its community involvement extends to active participation in and hosting of local civic groups and its staff and board members being involved in many civic and altruistic endeavors. It recently has begun plans for a satellite incubator in cooperation with the nearby city of Fruita, Colo.
“Having a successful incubator has truly left a stamp on western Colorado,” says Jon Maraschin, executive director. “Over our 25 year history, we have been instrumental in the start up and successful operation of so many businesses that we have become part of the fabric of our community.”
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info@nbia.org