"A Family of Busineses"
QBTC marks 25 years, of being ‘incubator’ for start-up companies 1985 - 2010
by Steve Eighenger, The Herald-Whig 7/15/2010 Read story >>>
The Quincy Business and Technology Center remains one of the area’s best-kept secrets, but that’s fine with Les McKenzie, the non-profit organization’s longtime executive director.
McKenzie’s personal reward comes through the finished products – in the form of successful, established businesses – that leave the QBTC and ultimately strengthen Adams County and the surrounding area.
Located at Third and Oak, the five-story QBTC serves as an “incubator” for businesses starting up and in need of both space and guidance.
“We provide a flexibility for a business as it grows, plus networking opportunities,” McKenzie said. “We consider this as a family of businesses.”
More than 20 fledgling businesses regularly occupy the facility, which was built in 1918 and used initially as a factory and then a retail distribution center. It sat empty for almost 10 years until the mid-1980’s, when it was donated for the purpose of establishing what eventually became the QBTC.
The QBTC is celebrating its 25th anniversary this month. McKenzie has been the executive director since 1997 and has witnessed the center’s greatest period of success.
Businesses that have started out in the QBTC have created more than 500 jobs in the community, with 400 of those coming since 1997.
“Businesses that start out here have had a 70 percent success rate,” McKenzie said. “Starting out here gives a business a tremendous leg up.”
There are minimal start-up costs for would-be entrepreneurs who use the QBTC, where free advice is available in numerous forms, not least of which is from fellow business owners whose enterprises are at a similar stage of development.
Comparing information, notes, successes and failures as a body can prove invaluable, said McKenzie, who estimates that between 60 and 65 established businesses in the area got their start at Third and Oak.
The building normally runs at about 95 percent capacity, with a new business staying there an average of three to five years. Start-up businesses can eliminate some of their time, effort and expense in obtaining services and equipment because they are provided at no cost or minimum cost, McKenzie said.
Single offices and suites, plus enough area for light manufacturing and warehousing, are available at the QBTC. Current businesses in the QBTC’s 67,000 square feet account for 140 jobs.
Bill Rinehart, a former Illinois State Police officer, moved with his wife from Pittsfield to Quincy four years ago to establish his Big River Investigations business with the help of the QBTC.
“When you start a business, you only really know about 10 percent of what you need to know,” Rinehart said. “Starting a business is more than the space. You have to have everything else that goes with it. I had to learn about payrolls, taxes … and things like that.”
Dean La Velle, who founded Webcentric, a business that builds websites, is also in the “incubation stage” at QBTC.
“The level of professionalism and expertise you find here is fantastic,” he said.
La Velle said he anticipates being at the QBTC “for a couple of years” while building his business and establishing a presence in the region.
“The only way I can do what I (need to) do is if my costs are low,” he said. “I needed this kind of help upfront.”
QBTC’s operating budget is funded by rents from tenants. Capital improvements normally result from various grants and philanthropic efforts.
“We have raised $550,000 in the last 10 years for renovations,” McKenzie said.
A recent article from the President and CEO of the NBIA, Dinah Adkins, said “It was of particular interest to me to see how the QBTC incubation program has achieved 90 to 95 percent lease-up, putting the incubator on a healthy financial footing, and increasing local employment impacts among current clients and graduates of the incubator. With nearly 500 jobs created by incubated companies, you can claim that nearly every5th household in Quincy owes a job to a QBTC client or graduate.
As you know, one of the two principles of business incubation espoused by the National Business Incubation Association is that the incubator should itself be a model of a sustainable, efficient business operation. Here QBTC is obviously in a class of its own, having over the past 12 years increased current assets by 976 percent and total assets by 39 percent. According to NBIA’s 2007 State of the Business Incubation Report, only 29 percent of North America’s incubators (currently 1,500 programs, operate without any annual subsidy. A far smaller percentage – perhaps only 5 percent of programs or less – have been able to accomplish all capital improvements through grants and pay off initial start-up loans out of operating income. Your success is thus extraordinary.
I believe the City of Quincy should be congratulated for its foresight in initiating the QBTC and for putting it in the hands of capable management, thus increasing community wealth and employment.”
Mayor John Spring said the Quincy Business and Technology Center’s record speaks for itself.
“For 25 years, the QBTC has carried out its mission and has improved the economic climate of the region,” he said.
Spring was one of about 100 people who took part in the QBTC’s open house Wednesday, a gathering that celebrated the non-profit organization’s 25th anniversary on July 14, 2010.
“It’s wonderful to be part of this celebration,” Spring said. “I’ve watched the QBTC grow and become a viable part of this region. Many who had an idea started here, where people take the time and effort to make those who come here, to the incubator, be successful.”
McKenzie said one of the most gratifying things about what happens at QBTC is its impact in so many ways on the region. We have proven that our success has provided significant opportunities to the community.”
“The jobs that come out of here are all diversified and good-paying jobs,” he said.
“They contribute toward the growth of our community."
Among the civic, educational, business, law enforcement and agricultural leaders who were on hand were County Board Chairman Mike McLaughlin, former mayors Chuck Scholz and Vern Hagstrom, State Sen. John Sullivan and former State Sen. Laura Kent Donahue.
“This center produces jobs,” Spring said. “This is a great success story.”
