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Ohio County Business Incubator Aims to Spur Job Creation with Digital Commuting

Ohio County Economic Development Alliance

Ohio County is launching an innovative business center with the goal of bringing  new jobs that have most of the commuting done online.

Chase Vincent is executive director of the Ohio County Economic Development Alliance. He says the business incubator is a way to offset the expense of bricks-and-mortar for startups.

“The concept of an incubator is that they come together and share experiences and advice and learn together. It dramatically increases their rate of success for becoming a long-standing business in the community.”

Vincent points to the increasing popularity and viability of remote work as confirmation of the timeliness of the Ohio County project. He says all the pieces are in place for the incubator. 

“We were recently approved for $100,000 from the Ohio County Fiscal Court to purchase property in Hartford to be used as an incubator, training center and co-work space.”

A three-story house at 300 Peach Alley in Hartford will house the business center. The closing on the property is scheduled for the end of August.

The basic interior layout is already compatible with the new use. It has 13 rooms that can be used for office space. It was previously owned by the Catholic organization Glenmary Home Missioners. That’s a society of priests and coworkers that serves rural areas where there’s little or no presence of the Catholic Church.

The building will be renovated to provide training areas for state and local programs and office space for startups. 

The project has also received $100,000 in funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that will be used for operating the incubator.

Vincent says a local resident who already does remote administrative work for medical, legal and other businesses is planning to be the first company to locate in the new center.

The incubator is expected to be in operation in January or February. 

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