Supporting Business on the Western Slope
Supporting Business on the Western Slope
he old three-story building in Grand Junction, Colorado was originally a
warehouse for hardware stores. Its thick beams and sturdy floors were built to hold the
weight of hammers and wrenches and rakes and other tools for building and maintaining both
the necessities and the amenities of life on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains.
Today, the building contains a different set of tools and a new
collection of products and services. As the home of the Western Colorado Business
Development Corporation (WCBDC), it provides space for new businesses. It shelters ideas
and energy, and the often intangible tools and resources that can help turn innovative
ideas and hard work into viable businesses.
It shelters ideas and energy, and the often intangible tools and resources that can help turn innovative ideas and hard work into viable businesses.
A banner on the outside of the building proudly proclaims that WCBDC
was selected by the National Business Incubation Association as the 1996 Incubator of the
Year. Inside the front door, a receptionist welcomes visitors, answers the telephone, and
talks with tenants coming into the building. Business owners check their mail, use the
copying or fax machine, and greet one another.
The coffee pot and bulletin board are just around the corner, and we
learned later that this is a "grand central hub" by design. It's where tenants
and staff casually meet as they come and go, where they chat about the weather, sources of
supplies, marketing techniques, ball game scores, or financing for new equipment.
. . . being there is like being part of a family . . .
The relationships forged by such conversations are one of the keys to the success of WCBDC. Staff and tenants alike told us that being there is like being part of a family, with celebrations of success, commiseration on setbacks, and companionship in between. One of the most important celebrations is graduation--expected within three to five years--when tenants move out of the incubator to continue business on their own.
(photo) Thea Chase, executive director of Western Colorado Business Development Corporation, admiring a product from Heirlooms of Tomorrow.
The Center
Thea Chase, who has been executive director of the Western Colorado
Business Development Corporation for four years, hosted our tour of the building that
houses WCBDC offices and incubator tenants.
On the first floor is space for the mixture of services offered by the
center. Free expertise and assistance is available through one-on-one consulting from the Colorado
Small Business Development Center (SBDC) to people who own or are considering starting
a business in Mesa County. Training sessions are also provided through the SBDC, with
topics ranging from taxes to insurance to marketing.
The Mesa County Revolving Loan Fund makes loans for starting or
expanding a business. The Research Bureau can analyze market trends and discover
new business opportunities in underserved markets.
Leading Edge is a 50-hour comprehensive training program for
business owners that includes information about how to develop a business plan and analyze
cash flow. The Small Business Incubator provides space at moderate rent, with easy
access to equipment and other services. Businesses in the incubator are also eligible for Colorado
Enterprise Zone tax incentives, which make tax credits and other benefits available
for businesses that create jobs and for contributors supporting job development.
"If capitalism is the cure for making private business work, then it is also the cure that can make nonprofits work!"
"Our clients don't care which acronym they're visiting,"
said Chase. "They just want to get help." Costs are shared between the nine
staff members for the different programs, providing flexibility and economy in meeting the
needs of clients. "It's an efficient way to provide a wide range of services,"
Chase said, "and it stretches our dollars further. If capitalism is the cure for
making private business work, then it is also the cure that can make nonprofits
work!" Seventy percent of the income for the Western Colorado Business Development
Corporation is generated internally. (See "Anatomy of a Small Business
Incubator" for more details.) 
(photo) Raul Egas demonstrates equipment that rearranges molecules at Sealavinyl.
Businesses
Heirlooms of Tomorrow is also on the first floor of the WCBDC
building, close to the truck loading dock and the newly built paint spray room. The
business produces wooden rocking animals with stuffed cloth seats and heads.
Owners Pete and Jan Genereaux bought the business at an auction four
years ago, and immediately began finding ways to do things more efficiently. For example,
they made the shipping boxes slightly smaller so they would fit as carry-on luggage for
airline travelers. Pete designed a dispenser for the wooden buttons that cover the wood
screws, and a template to make it easy to see where to place grommets in the cloth.
Before buying the business, Pete Genereaux was an airline pilot and his
wife Jan was a flight attendant. They moved to Grand Junction, because it had ample
outdoor activities for their high-school aged son, they liked the size of the area
(approximately 100,000 people in the city and surrounding area), the values, the
geography, and the pace of life--and they did not want to live in a suburb.
"Our clients don't care which acronym they're visiting . . . They just want to get help."
The alder wood the Genereaux's need is unavailable locally, and they
ship it in from Washington state. Cloth is purchased mostly from fabric mills in South
Carolina and Kansas City. The padding is clean recycled polyester scraps, and boxes are
manufactured by a local company.
The rocking animals have sold well across the United States, and the
Genereaux's are looking for opportunities for overseas distribution. WCBDC linked them
with the Japanese External Trade Organization (JETRO), and JETRO has three of the animals
that they will be showing at major trade fairs in Southeast Asia and the Middle East over
the next two years. "All we need to make sales," said Pete Genereaux, "is
one distributor for a country."
Downstairs on the lower level of the incubator building, Raul Egas is
working hard to expand the market for the plastic products he creates. Sealavinyl
Manufacturing produces swimming pool liners, truck bed covers, cases to hold business
cards, and a wide variety of other vinyl products. Egas hopes to expand by opening a
factory in his native Ecuador, and plans to increase distribution of his products in South
America.
"Since the North America Free Trade Agreement is in effect, we . . . [can] sell bikes in Canada without a 17 percent import tax."
As we continue our tour, we climb narrow wooden steps to the second
floor, where Mike Griggs of CCM America has successfully marketed the CCM
"Legendary Four Stroke Dirt Bikes" that are built by a small factory in England.
The manufacturer can't keep up with the demand Griggs has helped to
create, so he is exploring options for assembling the motorcycle in the United States.
"The Japanese will enter this market," said Griggs, "but we could offer a
product made in the USA. Since the North America Free Trade Agreement is in effect, we
also have the advantage of being able to sell bikes in Canada without a 17 percent import
tax."
As a rider and sometimes racer, Griggs knows what makes the bikes good,
understands how to put them together, and knows how to reach their market. He doesn't,
however, have expertise in financing or in the legalities of setting up a U.S. factory,
and staff of WCBDC are working with him to identify potential sources of venture capital
and to review legal requirements. 
(photo) Benny Otero places gift certificates in greeting cards at Marisol Inc.
Around the corner from the dirt bikes is Marisol Inc.,which
has penetrated a highly competitive market in the United States with original card and
stationery products. Benny Otero, one of several part-time employees from nearby Mesa
County Developmental Services, cheerfully inserts certificates into cards being readied
for distribution. These certificates are for gifts such as permission for a child to
"stay up one hour past your bedtime" or for "a fun filled day at the beach,
amusement park, or ski slopes" for a friend.
Marisol products are distributed at card and gift shops and bookstores
across the country, and are also a popular fund raising project for schools. Over 100
designs are produced, primarily by local artists, and printing is by a Grand Junction
printer. Marisol products have been sold in Canada, England and Ireland, and owner Barbara
Gallisath plans to pursue ways to further expand their international market.
". . . it's what we do, not where we are, that is important."
The third floor was quiet. There was no class in
session at the Colorado Tai Chi studio, and the medical records transcription employees
were busily transcribing medical records. Recent repair of the roof by Mesa County, which
owns the building, makes more potential tenant space available. A large tabby cat dozed in
the sunlight on a stack of sheetrock that will be used to create new tenant space.
Other tenants at the WCBDC include a plastics tool design and injection
molding business, computer programming services, a printing and graphics business,
environmental consulting, tool and die production, medical and health care business
services, and karate training.
Mesa County is in the process of deciding whether to keep or tear down
the old building that contains the Western Colorado Business Development Corporation and
its incubator tenants. If it is torn down, WCBDC will relocate, perhaps in a facility
built especially for them.
Chase is ready to contend with whatever the future brings. "This
building works great for us," she said, "but we can move easily enough if we
need to--it's what we do, not where we are, that is important."