DeKalb County Business Incubator Accepting 2nd Round of Applications

Do you have a desire to start your own business? Are you the next Facebook or Google? Or perhaps, you are a lawyer, accountant, software engineer, graphic artist, consultant, or a retiree who has always wanted to write your own success story. DeKalb County Government wants you!

DeKalb County will be opening the new Business Incubator in July 2016. The DeKalb County Business Incubator is accepting the 2nd Round of applications. “We are excited to move forward with this venture and help businesses and non-profits grow so that after a couple of years they can locate into a private sector building or build their own facility in DeKalb County where they can continue to grow, help our local economy and increase job opportunities for our residents,” said Mark Pietrowski, Jr., DeKalb County Board Chairman.

The new DeKalb County Business Incubator is scheduled to open in July 2016 in the County’s Community Outreach Building located at 2500 N. Annie Glidden Road, DeKalb, Illinois. It will provide office space, conference rooms and support services for small businesses. Features include:

• A 26,000 sq. ft. geothermal building.
• Private office spaces, and shared work spaces.
• Open 24 hours, 7 days of the week.
• State of the art conference and meeting spaces.
• Office equipped with internet access.
• Furnished offices equipped with Fiber Optics telecommunications infrastructure.
• Available storage space.
• Far western suburban location just 60 miles west of Chicago.
• Just 1 hour from O’Hare and Midway Airports
• Chicago-Rockford Airport (35 minutes away).
• Home to Northern Illinois University
• Relationships with Argonne and Fermi National Labs through Northern Illinois University

“DeKalb County has a rich history of business innovations dating back to the invention of barbed wire and the development of hybrid corn. This new business incubator will provide today’s entrepreneurs direct access to our County’s new high-speed fiber optic network as well as other valuable resources. Applicants ranging from new college graduates to recent retirees are invited to present their business ideas and proposals,” said Bob Brown, Chairman of the DeKalb County Economic Development Committee.

“The Incubator has already attracted 8 potential companies to open their doors in the new Incubator in July,” said Mary Supple, DeKalb County Economic Development Coordinator.

Tenants will have access to a host of business seminars led by industry experts and business training through the Small Business Development Center of Elgin Community College, Kishwaukee College, and Northern Illinois University, networking, and business counseling through a business mentoring program and more.

The deadline for applications to be submitted is July 22, 2016. The Application can be found through the DeKalb County Administration Office and on the County’s website at www.dekalbcounty.org. For more details, contact Mary Supple, DeKalb County Economic Development Coordinator @ 815/895-7189 or email to msupple@dekalbcounty.org.