Discussions continue over Martinsville's business incubator

MARTINSVILLE ?Developing a skilled trades program at the West Piedmont Business Development Center is a worthwhile idea, those attending a public meeting Tuesday night agreed.

However, the Martinsville-Henry County Chamber of Commerce will continue to solicit ideas on how to use the vacant second floor of the small business incubator uptown.

That was decided largely due to a lack of attendance at the meeting, held to get public input on how to use the floor. Other than chamber, city and Patrick Henry Community College (PHCC) staff members and the media, only two people attended.

Several more meetings will be scheduled during the next few months to receive ideas, said chamber President Amanda Witt.

"Our planning (for the floor) is in its infancy," Witt said.

The WPBDC, at 22 E. Church St., is owned by the city but managed by the chamber and its affiliate, the Chamber's Partnership for Economic Growth (C-PEG). It's occupied by entrepreneurs and other upstart businesses that need help in developing and growing so they can be successful.

Tenants get advice from professionals about developing business plans and overcoming financial and managerial issues. They also share resources such as clerical staff, utilities and major items of office equipment so they can spend less toward start-up costs and more on developing their businesses.

Twenty businesses and service providers now occupy the incubator. Twenty-eight have "graduated" ? left to make it on their own ? since it opened in 2002. Current and past tenants together have created 275 jobs, its website shows.

About 96 percent of the incubator is occupied. However, the roughly 3,000-square-foot second floor, designed to be light manufacturing or warehouse space, has been unoccupied since Solid Stone Fabrics, which makes and distributes stretch fabrics, moved out in 2008.

According to Witt, most small business incubators just have office space. Having light manufacturing or warehouse space makes the WPBDC unique, and she wants it to be used for a unique purpose instead of it being turned into more office space.

One idea being explored is converting the second floor into a cooperative where people interested in becoming plumbers, electricians, carpenters and other types of skilled laborers can learn trades and get started in them, either by opening their own businesses or getting jobs with existing ones.

The chamber tried to get state funding to further develop the idea. But state officials' response was that the notion was "too workforce-driven and not entrepreneurial-driven enough," Witt said.

How can someone become an entrepreneur if he or she can't gain skills they need to start businesses, asked Gayle Gruchow, business and financial services director for STEP Inc., a regional organization that helps people overcome economic, educational and developmental barriers to success.

Justin Hitt, a local businessman affiliated with the Senior Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE), said people skilled in trades such as carpentry, painting and electrical wiring are in high demand. He based his comment on things he learned while trying to get work done at his home.

"You can make $70,000 (per year) as a tradesman," Hitt said. "You can make a good living doing trades."

Many people apparently don't realize that, said Rhonda Hodges, PHCC's vice president for workforce, economic and community development.

To have a skilled trades program at the incubator, there are potential issues to overcome, participants in the meeting acknowledged.

For instance, the program must be able to get participants. Possibilities mentioned include reaching out to high school students and ex-offenders seeking to re-enter the workforce.

Among the latter group, "it would eliminate a lot of recidivism," Gruchow said.

People sometimes turn to crime because they cannot find jobs, Hitt commented.

He wondered, though, if it would be safe to have high school students and ex-offenders together, or how existing tenants would feel working in the same building as ex-offenders.

People may need financial incentives to enroll in the program, meeting participants said.

Local contractors could be approached about hiring or providing internships to those learning skilled trades. Yet they may be wary of doing so, Hitt said, out of fear of creating competition for themselves.

Hodges suggested the idea of developing an incubator to help people create products requiring advanced manufacturing skills.

City Manager Leon Towarnicki said the second floor, which has dock doors, may be suited for a firm that brings in materials, assembles products for those materials and then ships the products.

The floor's problem is that "it's either too small for an established business or too large for a start-up," Witt said based on comments made by business people who considered locating there but did not.

It could be divided into smaller light manufacturing or warehouse spaces, but it would be hard for multiple businesses to use the same dock doors, she said.

"It's definitely been a challenge trying to figure out the best use (of the floor) for the community," she added.