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According to George Swift, President/CEO of the Southwest Louisiana Entrepreneurial and Economic Development (SEED) Center, the place will be an important catalyst for enhancing development in Southwest Louisiana by using the effective knowledge, training and creative resources of McNeese faculty and students.
The SEED Center is a business incubator, or a business support process that accelerates the successful development of start-up companies by providing entrepreneurs with an array of targeted resources and services. The center will provide space for direct hands-on training for business start-ups (classrooms and conference rooms). Student interns will benefit from the training opportunities. Students will gain real time experience and knowledge about business plans, marketing, finances, accounting, operations, etc. Students enrolled will also benefit from SEED Center education initiatives designed for the business incubators: accounting, marketing, management, finance, agriculture, engineering, general studies and others.
Construction of the SEED center is underway and is expected to be completed by the end of 2012. It will be located on Ryan Street across from the McNeese campus and behind McDonald's. The SEED Center will be approximately 50,000 square feet and will house 32 offices. Fusion Five and the Women's Business Network co-hosted an information session about the SEED Center on Tuesday, July 12 at McNeese.
George Swift explained the significance of having the SEED Center in the area.
"We're one of the last regions in the state to have a full size business incubator. A business incubator is a facility that provides space for start-up businesses. But more than that, it's to provide support and counseling to help start-ups get going and remain successful. The business community will be better served by having more businesses in the area and more potential customers and tax revenue.
"The beauty of this facility is that it will tie in to the McNeese campus. McNeese faculty and students will be able to participate directly with businesses and so it's going to be a great combination that's come together. Putting this together was done by a real cooperative effort of the city of Lake Charles, the Police Jury, McNeese State University and the SWLA Economic Development Alliance. The Alliance, representing the chamber and the private sector, will manage the facility. It's about a $14 million project with $8 million coming from Louisiana Recovery Authority funding and city and parish funds, the property from McNeese, $1 million from the Alliance (pending the sale of their building) and a federal grant from the Economic Development Administration of $3.9 million," said Swift.
Celia Case, Vice President of economic development of the Chamber Southwest and Chair of the SEED Center Advisory Board, talked about the high success rate of businesses that start in an incubator. Case said that the incubator will encourage the start-up of new businesses in SWLA by providing counseling and consulting services to those who need assistance in learning to manage their businesses successfully.
"The main goal of the incubator is to graduate successful firms that will become financially viable and freestanding. History tells us that 80 percent of all new start-up businesses fail within their first five years of operations. However, with a business incubator, they have reversed that trend to where 80 percent of all businesses that begin in an incubator are still in business five years later. That's a good reason to have a business incubator in the area. On average, a business will stay in the incubator for three years. The impact to the community includes creating jobs, retaining businesses, building or accelerating growth in local industry and diversifying local economies," said Case.
Dr. Philip Williams, President of McNeese, compared the SEED Center partnership with the city of Lake Charles to the partnership in Silicon Valley between Stanford University and the city of San Jose.
"This is an exciting opportunity for us. Silicon Valley started as a partnership just like this between Stanford University and the city of San Jose. This will provide opportunities for students to conduct research on new businesses. The center will have an incubation area, an area for interdisciplinary innovation and an area for interaction. I believe we may be the only university in the nation that has a regional chamber of commerce that will be located on our campus.
"The opportunities there are amazing. It's a place where folks can meet, where creation can happen, where work can happen, where learning can happen and where sharing can happen. We already have one course developed, Innovation180. The class will encourage ways to create. Additional innovation courses are being planned. We're hoping that a student will be able to major in anything and minor in innovation. I would like one day for McNeese to be known as the university of innovation," said Dr. Williams.
Mark Hebert, Fusion Five Chair, said that seed centers will be a great help to new businesses.
"Seed centers like this are going to be a huge boost to those young people who want to come out here and start new businesses. We want to provide mentoring and learning sessions so that our members can develop the skills to prosper in their business and professional field," said Hebert.
For more information about the SEED Center, contact the SWLA Economic Development Alliance at 433-3632.
According to George Swift, President/CEO of the Southwest Louisiana Entrepreneurial and Economic Development (SEED) Center, the place will be an important catalyst for enhancing development in Southwest Louisiana by using the effective knowledge, training and creative resources of McNeese faculty and students.
The SEED Center is a business incubator, or a business support process that accelerates the successful development of start-up companies by providing entrepreneurs with an array of targeted resources and services. The center will provide space for direct hands-on training for business start-ups (classrooms and conference rooms). Student interns will benefit from the training opportunities. Students will gain real time experience and knowledge about business plans, marketing, finances, accounting, operations, etc. Students enrolled will also benefit from SEED Center education initiatives designed for the business incubators: accounting, marketing, management, finance, agriculture, engineering, general studies and others.
Construction of the SEED center is underway and is expected to be completed by the end of 2012. It will be located on Ryan Street across from the McNeese campus and behind McDonald's. The SEED Center will be approximately 50,000 square feet and will house 32 offices. Fusion Five and the Women's Business Network co-hosted an information session about the SEED Center on Tuesday, July 12 at McNeese.
George Swift explained the significance of having the SEED Center in the area.
"We're one of the last regions in the state to have a full size business incubator. A business incubator is a facility that provides space for start-up businesses. But more than that, it's to provide support and counseling to help start-ups get going and remain successful. The business community will be better served by having more businesses in the area and more potential customers and tax revenue.
"The beauty of this facility is that it will tie in to the McNeese campus. McNeese faculty and students will be able to participate directly with businesses and so it's going to be a great combination that's come together. Putting this together was done by a real cooperative effort of the city of Lake Charles, the Police Jury, McNeese State University and the SWLA Economic Development Alliance. The Alliance, representing the chamber and the private sector, will manage the facility. It's about a $14 million project with $8 million coming from Louisiana Recovery Authority funding and city and parish funds, the property from McNeese, $1 million from the Alliance (pending the sale of their building) and a federal grant from the Economic Development Administration of $3.9 million," said Swift.
Celia Case, Vice President of economic development of the Chamber Southwest and Chair of the SEED Center Advisory Board, talked about the high success rate of businesses that start in an incubator. Case said that the incubator will encourage the start-up of new businesses in SWLA by providing counseling and consulting services to those who need assistance in learning to manage their businesses successfully.
"The main goal of the incubator is to graduate successful firms that will become financially viable and freestanding. History tells us that 80 percent of all new start-up businesses fail within their first five years of operations. However, with a business incubator, they have reversed that trend to where 80 percent of all businesses that begin in an incubator are still in business five years later. That's a good reason to have a business incubator in the area. On average, a business will stay in the incubator for three years. The impact to the community includes creating jobs, retaining businesses, building or accelerating growth in local industry and diversifying local economies," said Case.
Dr. Philip Williams, President of McNeese, compared the SEED Center partnership with the city of Lake Charles to the partnership in Silicon Valley between Stanford University and the city of San Jose.
"This is an exciting opportunity for us. Silicon Valley started as a partnership just like this between Stanford University and the city of San Jose. This will provide opportunities for students to conduct research on new businesses. The center will have an incubation area, an area for interdisciplinary innovation and an area for interaction. I believe we may be the only university in the nation that has a regional chamber of commerce that will be located on our campus.
"The opportunities there are amazing. It's a place where folks can meet, where creation can happen, where work can happen, where learning can happen and where sharing can happen. We already have one course developed, Innovation180. The class will encourage ways to create. Additional innovation courses are being planned. We're hoping that a student will be able to major in anything and minor in innovation. I would like one day for McNeese to be known as the university of innovation," said Dr. Williams.
Mark Hebert, Fusion Five Chair, said that seed centers will be a great help to new businesses.
"Seed centers like this are going to be a huge boost to those young people who want to come out here and start new businesses. We want to provide mentoring and learning sessions so that our members can develop the skills to prosper in their business and professional field," said Hebert.
For more information about the SEED Center, contact the SWLA Economic Development Alliance at 433-3632.
