Business Incubator Planned for Eastern Connecticut

Eastern Connecticut’s Chamber of Commerce will open a business incubator focused on job growth in the New London region.

The State Bond Commission approved $1.3 million in funding for the project March 31.

The incubator will provide businesses and workers in the region with entrepreneurial training, technical apprenticeships, and business development.

The center will also advise entrepreneurs of state and local permit requirements for forming a new company. 

The center will be operated by the chamber and its 1,400 member businesses.

Job Creation

When fully operational, the center will support the creation of approximately 100 new jobs each year and more than 100 new businesses in the next decade, chamber president and CEO Tony Sheridan said. 

Sheridan called the work of “revitalizing our inner cities” a key motivation for the move.

The new location is within both an enterprise and federal opportunity zone, and is close to several of the region’s largest employers and historically underserved communities.

The entrepreneurial training will include a 10-week curriculum-based program that to develop business ideas and gain an understanding of how to start a company. 

A four-month accelerator program will also provide mentorship, guidance, resources, and assistance to a business in its first two years of operation.

Dr. Stephen Coan, chair of the chamber’s board of directors, called the incubator “critically important for economic development, especially with support for new small businesses and job training.”