Rural incubator program

When the NVision report on the rural counties, compiled by consultants AngelouEconomics, said the region needed a business incubator to fertilize new and fledgling companies, people listened.

And acted.

Last week a litany of directors from development agencies, colleges and Chambers of Commerce met to form the Rural Regional Incubator Project. It's the brainchild of Rick Horn, director of the Procurement Outreach Program administered by the Nevada Commission on Economic Development.

The project will apply for funding from the Nevada Commission on Economic Development, which will allocate funds from the $3 million appropriated last year by the state legislature for rural economic development.

While committee members will contribute funds and in-kind labor, the project will also hire an executive director, says Ron Weisinger, executive director of the Northern Nevada Development Authority.

The incubator project will operate under the auspices of Western Nevada Community College, but will need an operations base. To house it, Wade Development Company will build a facility of about 5,000 square feet this fall at the Crossroads Commerce Center in Fernley, says Weisinger. The project expects to move in at the start of next year.

But recruiting companies to participate starts immediately. The committee will review submissions and choose 10 to start. Those companies are expected to need two or three years to graduate from the program. It's open to all types of enterprise, says Weisinger, including agrarian, construction, entrepreneurs, even intellectual property firms.

When the first group fledges, the program will repeat the process, and recruit and incubate and fledge a further clutch of young businesses.