New Businesses Continue to Grow at CAN BE

New Businesses Continue to Grow at CAN BE

September 22, 2006
For more information contact Precision Design, 570-455-3533

HAZLETON - Looking to start a business, but don’t know where to begin?

Then the Community Association for New Business Entrepreneurship, better known as CAN BE, should be your first stop.

CAN BE, a non-profit, wholly owned subsidiary of CAN DO, operates the Greater Hazleton Business Innovation Center – a business incubator located in the Valmont Industrial Park. It was established in 2005 to help to promote the entrepreneurial spirit and develop homegrown businesses in Greater Hazleton.

By participating in the business incubator program, entrepreneurs can take advantage of a number of cost-saving benefits that can hamper the development of every new business. These benefits include management guidance; technical assistance; affordable rental space and flexible leases; shared basic business services and equipment; technology support services; and assistance in obtaining the financing necessary to grow their business.

Professional mentors from the area’s business community are also available in a consultant role at little or no cost to incubator clients.

“The CAN BE incubator solved many of the problems we faced as a start-up,” said Brian Reese, vice president of operations for Aero Solutions, one of the first tenants at the CAN BE incubator. “Launching my business in the incubator allows me to concentrate on growing the business instead of worrying about buying furniture, office equipment, computers…all of those little things you need, but can end up costing thousands of dollars.”

One such valuable resource is available every day to the incubator tenants.

Jack St. Pierre, CAN BE’s executive director, is no stranger to what it takes to stat a new business, having founded a successful business in Greater Hazleton in the 1980’s. He routinely offers his nearly 40 years of manufacturing, sales, marketing and business experience to entrepreneurs. “In many ways, I’ve already faced a lot of what they are going through in starting a new business,” said St. Pierre. “So I offer my experience to help them clear some of the hurdles. Sometimes I have the answers and sometimes I don’t, but I can always point them in a direction where they can find a solution.”

“Entrepreneurs with an idea for a new business stand a significantly better chance of not just surviving, but prospering if they start their business in an incubator,” said CAN BE Chairman and Penn State Hazleton Chancellor John Madden. “National statistics show that, on average, four out of five new businesses fail within the first five years. When started in an incubator however, four out of five businesses succeed in the same period of time. That’s a very significant shift in the success of new businesses and the impact they can have on our community.”

CAN BE has been designed as a technology-based incubator, meaning that it seeks companies trying to develop or commercialize new technology, whether the company specializes in software, computer products, electronics, or other technology related services.

St. Pierre is quick to point out, though, that non-tech projects are not turned away. “Any manufacturing business would be carefully considered, as would businesses that would grow into job-creating entities over time.” The incubator does not consider retail, consumer service or restaurant businesses for its incubator space, but may consider one of these as a “virtual” tenant in limited cases.

The CAN BE incubator has Keystone Innovation Zone (KIZ) status. KIZs create “knowledge neighborhoods” close to colleges, universities and research institutions that focus talent and resources in clusters, transforming communities into technology and business incubators. Entrepreneurs can find an unbroken chain of ready resources, including research and peer groups, entrepreneurial support, venture capital, and workforce and financial assistance.

Currently there are six new businesses operating in the incubator, with room for at least six more, according to St. Pierre. Incubator space is also available at other locations.

CAN BE is supported by the Ben Franklin Technology Partnership and PPL and is partnered with Penn State-Hazleton and PENNTAP.

For more information on how you can get your new business idea off the ground, call CAN BE at 455-8334, visit them online at canbe.biz, or stop by the incubator at 103 Rotary Drive in the Valmont Industrial Park.