The Ozarks Small Business Incubator was intended, from the beginning, to serve not just as a local incubator for those within easy driving distance of West Plains, but also as the hub of a regional network of locally operated incubators within the 7-county South Central Ozarks region.

Regional Satellite Business Incubators

The concept behind the satellite business incubators is simple. OzSBI provides expertise, services, and shared resources to area business incubators, while the local communities maintain control of their own facilities. The benefits are mutual:

• With the assistance of OzSBI, each local area is able to develop a higher level of business incubation than is possible on their own.
• With the participation of the regional communities, OzSBI is able to offer a wider range of programs and resources than it could by itself.

The shared goal of both OzSBI and the satellite incubators is to encourage the development of Ozark entrepreneurs, to help them grow their businesses, and to keep them active and successful at home in the Ozarks.

What can OzSBI do for your community?

OzSBI can partner with you to provide your entrepreneurs with what they need to be successful and to stay in your community.

Specifically, we can:

• Provide guidance in establishing your own business incubator.
• Provide on-site and virtual business training, coaching, and mentoring.
• Provide access to regional shared resources and other services.
• Provide access to NBIA resources.
• Help you find ways to put under-used community resources to use, often in cash-neutral ways.
• Provide a networking and coordination environment in which the following can occur:
  • Joint marketing of regional products (e.g. "Ozarks Finest")
  • Regional and local investment through an Angel Investor network, a micro-loan, and a micro-investment program.
  • other joint ventures

How to get started

There are three elements needed to establish a business incubator: people, resources, and money. If you can line up two of those, we can probably help you with the third one.

All you really need is one enthusiastic person to lead the local effort.

Here is what that enthusiastic person will need to do:

• Talk to us - we'll get them started.
• Talk to lots and lots of people - chamber of commerce, government leaders, civic groups, community aid organizations, bankers, business people (active and retired), farmers market members, church groups, anyone who might be interested in starting a business or in seeing the local economy grow.
  • Listen attentively to what people think would be useful. Write down names and phone numbers and email addresses so you can get back to them.
  • Once you get a dozen or so people interested, invite us to come to a town meeting or forum. We'll help you promote it and we'll be there to participate in the dialogue.
• Eventually, you will need to find a space that is unused or under-used that can be made available. Don't worry about what it will be used for yet - it might be for offices or light manufacturing or work area for artisans. For now, just find a space and get tentative support for its free or low-cost use.
• You will also need to find a room that can be used occasionally by a visiting business coach or as a classroom, possibly with audio/visual equipment - preferably in a neutral public area.