Business Center leases space to incubator graduates

When businesses graduate from the Hamilton County Business Center, now they don’t have far to move.

The Center, the top small-business incubator in Southwest Ohio, has opened up its neighboring facility to businesses that have successfully moved out of the incubator. The 1775 Mentor Ave. facility in Norwood, Ohio, across the street from the Hamilton County Business Center’s main building, offers an attractive space at market rates and easy, informal access to the Center’s expertise and resources.

The incubator’s most recent graduate, MobileTEK Consulting, moved there in January, joining two other recent incubator graduates.

MobileTEK distributes durable computing products to police, firefighters, paramedics and other first responders who need ruggedized, mobile computers that can withstand tough environments. Even during a recessionary year, the company’s profits tripled and it’s looking to enter the construction market and hire up to three employees this year.

MobileTEK joined the Business Center in 2005, and since then, revenue has grown by more than 100 percent a year, while employment has grown from one to four, with more anticipated. “The Business Center provides an environment that is very conducive to growth and planning,” said MobileTEK owner Howard Mandel. “And resources that you can tap into for help.”

With the move across the street, “We still take advantage of their resources,” he said.

MobileTEK joined 2009 Business Center graduates SDL and Transmissions LLC at the Norwood facility.

MobileTEK is the Business Center’s 121st graduate since it was started in 1989. More than 95 percent have relocated their expanding operations to Ohio locations, with the majority setting up shop in Hamilton County. The Business Center’s success rate is 70 percent, far better than the national rate of small-business success.

For more information about the Hamilton County Business Center, please contact Patrick Longo at 513-631-8292 or by e-mail at longo@hcdc.com.