Bonner Business Center Incubates Longer

The Bonner Business Center keeps its “hatchling” businesses longer than most other business incubators around the country in an attempt to keep rent money flowing.

Since it opened in 1992, the center has “graduated” four companies and helped create 70 new jobs.

But the goal of maintaining a two-year incubation period has been set aside to assure stable monthly income from its manufacturing bay and office space tenants.

“There’s a balance between forcing people out the door and jeopardizing revenue for the center,” said Sandpoint Mayor David Sawyer, who is on the incubator’s four-member advisory board. “In Bonner County, you never have a line of people standing at the door waiting to start a business.”

Office manager Laurie Katana said location hobbles efforts to move more firms through the business center, which provides secretarial support and business counseling.

“Most incubators are associated with universities, so they draw from a larger population and have more resources,” Katana said.

“This is the most rural incubator in the country.”

“It may well be,” agreed Sally Hayhow of the National Business Incubation Association. “If that center were located in a city setting, they’d never be able to fit all the people who wanted to get in.”

In Bonner County, lower population makes it necessary to extend the “graduation deadline” past the national average of two to three years, Hayhow said. Just how long companies can remain in incubation is uncertain.

“It’s a function of numbers,” said Idaho Small Business Development Center regional director John Lynn. “The ultimate goal is still to grow ‘em and graduate ‘em. But there is the problem of cash flow.”

Keeping the center’s commercial kitchen busy has never been a problem.

The 1,400-square-foot facility is used by more than 30 specialty foods producers. Gem Berry Products reserves the kitchen three days a week to produce its line of jams and fulfill co-packing contracts for Litehouse Specialty Foods, Mad Mary’s Thai Sauce and Sticky Fingers Bakery in Spokane.

Compared with the other kitchen tenants, however, Gem Berry is a confectionery conglomerate.

“The problem with a lot of specialty foods producers is they don’t have the capital to grow,” Lynn said.

Six manufacturing bays have remained full, though two tenants rent more than one space.

“It’s back to keeping the money coming in,” Lynn said. “If somebody says, ‘Give me two,’ the center’s not in a position to be idealistic about having only one bay per company.”

Kay Kitchel, fiscal contracts manager for the Panhandle Area Council business incubator in Hayden, said that 10-year-old center has always found tenants for each of its five manufacturing bays.

“We’ve maintained full status and we currently have all new fledglings,” Kitchel said.

Based on the Hayden center’s record, those firms should be out within the two-year window.

“We hope all of them can be on their feet and graduate in that time, but, historically, some companies have stayed longer,” Kitchel said.

Hayhow said 1998 will be a watershed year for rural incubators like Sandpoint’s. The NBIA views such centers as the breeding ground for stable employment.

“Rural incubators are on the top of the NBIA list right now,” she said. “They’re an effective tool for rural economies and we plan to give them even better resources to work with.”

The NBIA lists 600 business incubators in North America.

Of the firms that graduated from incubators since 1990, 87 percent are still in business and 84 percent have remained in the same community, Hayhow said.

, DataTimes