The Business Incubator Center (BIC) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that for more than a quarter century has been supporting the launch, growth, stabilization, and long-term success of business enterprises in Mesa County and the surrounding region. Our goal is to stimulate the local economy and retain/create the greatest number of sustainable jobs possible.

Founded in 1986 as part of initiatives to diversify the economy after the 1982 economic bust, BIC was funded with a $75,000 grant from the department of local affairs. The Small Business Development Center opened an office at BIC in 1993 to provide classes, workshops, and business coaching. BIC moved to its current 46 acre location in 1999, increasing total square footage to 60,000 square feet, with over 35,000 square feet of mixed use space available for lease to tenant clients of BIC.

In 2002 a 2,500 square foot shared-use, licensed, commercial kitchen was constructed. Kitchen clients include caterers, food trucks, packaged food and beverage companies, and those interested in producing specialty foods such as salsas, jellies, candies, baked goods and more.

BIC is 75% self-funded.  Income is generated through a variety of sources, including tenant rent and program fees, low-cost workshops and classes, Business Loan Fund interest, Enterprise Zone administrative fees, and property management fees for a Department of Energy facility located on the campus.  BIC also receives grants from city, county, state and federal government entities, and sponsorships from local banks, corporate entities, service clubs, and private donors.

At any given time, BIC has 65-75 tenants and works with more than 1,000 clients each year. In the more than a quarter century BIC has been in existence we have graduated in excess of 350 companies from our facility with a greater than 80% existence rate after 5 years, helped launch nearly 600 companies which generated more than $157 million in revenues, created/retained over 9,451 jobs, made over 360 loans, leveraged more than $71 million in capital, and as administrators of the Mesa County Enterprise Zone, issued more than 7,000 certifications resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax credits and tens of millions of capital investments, as well as averaging nearly $5 million in contribution projects for charitable organizations per year.

BIC was voted National Business Incubator Association (NBIA) Dinah Atkins Incubator of the Year/General and Special Focus in 2012/2013 (out of over 7,000

Incubators worldwide), as well as Incubator of the Year for 1995/1996 – Industrial/Service category, and is one of NBIA’s 50 Best Practices facilities.

We frequently host tours and provide “best practice” procedures for other existing or aspiring Incubators from around the world. Our success as an incubator is based on several factors:   the number of companies launched through the Incubator, the amount of revenue generated by our client companies, how much funding is provided to community businesses through the Business Loan Fund of Mesa County, the number of local jobs created or retained, and the overall investment of capital in our area from our client companies.