CLEVELAND/BRADLEY BUSINESS INCUBATOR
* Started: 2000* Where: 3505 Adkisson Dr. adjacent to the Cleveland State Community College campus* Size: 41,000 square feet* Businesses: 44* People employed by companies: 125* Graduated businesses: 137Source: Cleveland/Bradley Business Incubator
Hurley Buff estimates that nearly nine of every 10 people who first come to the small business incubator in Cleveland, Tennessee know their product or service inside and out.
But, says the executive director of the Cleveland/Bradley Business Incubator, many of them don’t know much if anything about business, which leads to a lot of self doubt. That’s where the small business development center comes in, Buff says.
Studies from the U.S. Small Business Administration show small firms employ just over half of the private sector workforce and create nearly two-thirds of the nation’s net new jobs. In Cleveland and in other nearby communities, officials are weighing the best ways to help small businesses start and grow.
Since its creation in 2000 on the Cleveland State Community College campus, the Cleveland incubator has tried to help more business startups with low rent and access to services which can help companies get their ventures off the ground and to soar on their own.