Entrepreneurs, Economic Developers Gain Big Ideas on Small Business Start-ups

Columbia— A diverse audience of more than 100 small business owners, economic developers, university staff and entrepreneurs participated in the state’s first “Conversation on Incubators,” hosted Wednesday at the Marriott by New Carolina – South Carolina’s Council on Competitiveness. 

According to New Carolina Executive Director George Fletcher, the goal of the seminar was to inspire local business leaders to step up existing efforts or launch new programs to help entrepreneurs in South Carolina. 

“As we work to increase the state’s per capita income, we realize the value of growing our own businesses as a critical component of the new economic development model,” Fletcher explained. “Today’s speakers have a vast array of experience in coaching entrepreneurs or starting up new businesses themselves. We hope today’s participants will have a greater understanding of the role incubators, accelerators and business resource centers have in improving the success rate of new start up companies.”

Keynote speaker Dinah Adkins helped start the National Business Incubation Association and became its President and CEO in 1986. She agreed that opinions are changing about the role entrepreneurial development has in creating jobs and wealth. “There is a growing understanding of the important role entrepreneurs play not only in the U.S. but throughout the world.”

But the U.S. leads the way thanks in part to its long-valued history of innovation and experimentation, its access to credit, its short timeline for business start-up, and its acceptance of failure. “In some parts of the world, when a business fails, that’s it,” Adkins told the audience. “The U.S. leads in high growth, high expectation entrepreneurs who are looking to start companies that employ 20 or more people. They are not businesses based on necessity to employ one or more family members.”

Adkins said among the best practices for starting an incubator or business center were having a realistic understanding of the marketplace and an experienced manager with respect in the business community. “You need people who know how to grow companies, use sound financial models with diversified revenue streams, and are focused on tracking return on investment.”

Following Adkins remarks, a panel of local experts, including Richard Robinson of USC’s Faber Center for Entrepreneurship, David Hughes of the Clemson Institute for Economic and Community Development, Joel Stevenson of the USC/Columbia Technology Incubator, and Don Tomlin of Tomlin and Company, Inc., shared their insights and experience in new start-up ventures and using incubators. 

The South Carolina Department of Commerce served as the presenting sponsor for the Conversation event. Secretary of Commerce Joe Taylor cited resources such as incubators and entrepreneurial coaching as valuable tools in his own business success.  

“I learned from personal experience that having the opportunity to discuss business ideas with other entrepreneurs is a fundamental element of being able to start and grow your own business,” Taylor said. “Incubators can be a wonderful vehicle for this exchange. In order for there to be continued success, the community and local leaders must invest in incubators with the goal in mind to not simply start an incubator but encourage successful enterprises to graduate from them.”

In addition to New Carolina and the Commerce Department, the Conversation’s sponsors included the USC/Columbia Technology Incubator, Clemson Institute for Economic and Community Development, and SCLaunch! along with help from the Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce. 

Together with partners, South Carolina’s Council on Competitiveness is driving the movement towards a New Carolina – a South Carolina with a brighter future and a competitive, winning economy.  The focus is on a strategy to build clusters, improve the economic environment and connect the dots between efforts across the state.  

Contact: Amy Love, New Carolina, 803.760.1402