> Advocate
Valdosta Business Incubator
becoming reality
A
By Daniel DeMersseman
fter 15 years, the Valdosta Area Business
Incubator is becoming a physical reality.
The building “will take about a year to
renovate. Hopefully, we’ll open in 2021,”
said Jeff Hanson, chair of the VABI advi-
sory board.
VABI will be built on 101 N. Patterson St., in the
building known as “The Patterson.”
A business incubator provides a “business ecosys-
tem” where local business owners can develop their busi-
nesses together and regularly interact with each other in
a physical space, said Betty Morgan, Valdosta-Lowndes
Chamber of Commerce vice president for business de-
velopment.
“What we’re trying to do is bring in all these
resources,” Hanson said. “The first two or three or four
years of a business are the most crucial. Business owners
spend that time looking for resources instead of running
their businesses.”
VABI “will be a mixed facility, not just one particu-
lar industry,” Morgan said.
In other words, business owners will be able to in-
teract with other business owners with a variety of other
experiences, expertise and other resources.
Morgan said VABI will provide about 10-15 spaces
for rent as well as the option to rent out just a desk space.
“People who don’t want a full space can still mingle
with others,” she said.
Current building plans for VABI include a rooftop
garden and may also include two retail spaces, she said.
VABI will be an evolution of the SEEDS Resource
Center, Hanson said.
“We consider it (the SEEDS Resource Center) a vir-
tual business incubator. The SEEDS Center was the first
piece of the puzzle,” he said.
The SEEDS Resource Center began in 2004 and will
be part of the services offered by VABI.
Currently operating out of the Valdosta-Lowndes
Chamber of Commerce, the SEEDS Resource Center
connects local businesses with other local businesses and
provides a variety of services, workshops and classes,
chamber officials said.
“The chamber will own the building. VABI will run
the day-to-day operations,” Hanson said.
He said he believes the Valdosta area is ready for the
VABI and the long development process will be worth-
while.
A business incubator provides a “business ecosystem” where
local business owners can develop their businesses together
and regularly interact with each other in a physical space.
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