Doing Business in Emmet County

Business incubator gets $50k boost

The Northern Lakes Economic Alliance’s business incubator recently received a $50,000 federal grant to help small businesses in Northern Michigan get off the ground. The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration awarded the NLEA’s Small Business Incubator program the funding, which will help to provide advice on business strategy and access to capital and resources to emerging companies.

The NLEA uses a “virtual” format for its incubator, helping businesses line up resources for marketing, finance and Web design.

Since launching in October 2008, the incubator program has assisted more than 180 existing or prospective entrepreneurs and employers throughout the NLEA ’s service area of Emmet, Charlevoix, Antrim and Cheboygan counties, according to its president, Andy Hayes.

The NLEA is a public-private partnership established more than 25 years ago to serve as a resource for local government and local companies to help create and retain jobs. 
www. northernlakes.net.