Calvert County's Business Incubator Expansion Now Complete

PRINCE FREDERICK, Md., -- April 17 , 2003 -- The Calvert County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) and the College of Southern Maryland (CSM) hosted an open house on April 15, 2003, to announce completion of the expansion of Calvert County’s Business Incubator located in the Prince Frederick Shopping Center. The incubator was the first of its kind in Southern Maryland, originally opening in July 2001 with 525 square feet and housing two companies. With the new expansion to over 4,000 square feet of office space, the Incubator can now accommodate up to six early-to-mid stage companies.

"Calvert County possesses many of the characteristics of a successful entrepreneurial environment; we have a value-added resource network, sufficient market demand and broad-based stakeholder support," said David Hale, president, BOCC. "With this business incubation program, we hope to develop a continued concentration of new, technology-based companies in the County, retain businesses in our local community, enhance the entrepreneurial climate and provide job opportunities."

Since the early 1980s, business incubation has proven to be a successful economic development tool. The intensive mentoring, management training, and resource assistance provided to incubator tenants helps to ensure their success following graduation. In fact, the National Business Incubation Association (NBIA) reports that companies graduating from a business incubator have up to an 80 percent greater success rate than companies that do not receive the benefits of an incubation program.

CSM and the Calvert County Department of Economic Development will work together to recruit companies for the program from the community. CSM's management team will work with tenant companies on a day-to-day basis with the ultimate goal of graduating strong, economically viable companies back into the community within three years. A pool of experts in technology and business management will provide mentoring services, and a business counselor will assist with business plan development, financial reviews, marketing, management team development, and new product assessments.

Tenants must complete an application prior to acceptance into the incubator. Once accepted into the program, tenants will work with professional business counselors to develop goals, milestones and objectives for their business and they are required to participate in quarterly financial and business plan reviews to help ensure progress. Tenants are charged a monthly fee of $500 and they receive an office suite with furniture and computers, plus shared use of a conference room, copier and fax machine.

The College of Southern Maryland is a regionally-accredited community college that provides programs and services with a special focus on local workforce development to maintain and grow a healthy economy and community. For more information, please contact CSM, 301-934-7585 or visit www.csmd.edu or the Calvert County Department of Economic Development, 410.535.4583.

For more information on the Calvert County, Maryland Department of Economic Development, our visitor sites and attractions and the services available to assist County businesses, call 410.535.4583, 800.331.9771 or 301.855.1880; or send an e-mail to info@ecalvert.com