Incubator envisions growth of businesses in and around Demopolis

“I wish ‘they’ would do something” is a phrase Aliquippa Allen has heard frequently from residents in Demopolis.

Well, she told the Demopolis Rotary Club Wednesday, “We are ‘they’.”

With the support of a 16-member board of directors representing a wide spectrum of business interests and experience, she launched the Rural Business and Training Center, Inc. (RBTC). It officially was incorporated as a non-profit on July 10, 2020.

Allen said all but one of the board members are from or have lived in Demopolis and hold a vested interest in seeing the city and rural west Alabama grow.

Allen, retired as Dean of the School of Business at the University of West Alabama, and Ashley Coplin, executive director of the Demopolis City Schools Foundation and chair of the RBTC, outlined the vision and mission of the organization and how the group hopes to promote entrepreneurial excitement throughout Marengo and Greene counties.

Coplin said the vision of the group is to become “nationally recognized as a primary regional resource hub for entrepreneurial development and business success in the Black Belt.” To get there, the RBTC will “educate, train and facilitate rural business start-ups, support existing businesses and promote community and economic development.”

“I think that sometimes the only way we can help others or help our community is from inside,” said Allen.

Using trained facilitators, the RBTC will help budding business owners learn the ropes and avoid the pitfalls of opening their own companies.

“We would love to start training people to start a business,” said Allen.

Allen said the board hopes to offer the first training in January. It will consist of a three-hour class one night a week for 10 weeks. Such a course usually costs $550, but the first class gets a deal at $275.

“This is a program that will tell them if they really want to start a business,” said Allen. Potential business owners who are interested in signing up for the training will have to go through an application process, she added.

Until the RBTC gets a building of its own, training will take place in a specially designed meeting room in Social Butterfly, Allen’s business in downtown Demopolis.

The short-range plans for the RBTC include purchasing an historic building on Strawberry Street to house training and shared office space big enough to house five fledgling businesses. It plans to support the Marengo County Business Incubator in Linden as well as working to get a similar program up and running in Greene County at its former armory. In the future, said Coplin, the RBTC hopes to expand to other counties.

Coplin said the RBTC hopes to build a match-up list of partners to provide low-cost facilities to house graduates of the training, in addition to providing training for existing businesses.

Within three to five years the group plans to open a full-service center providing shared space and resources.

All of this cost money. Coplin said Allen “has worked extremely hard” in applying for the initial grants to make the center a reality. With the backing of the cities of Demopolis and Linden, the Marengo County Commission, MCEDA, UWA, Greene County IDA, the Chamber of Commerce and local businesses, Allen is going after a USDA Rise Grant. She said the grant “is designed specifically for what we’re already doing.”

Allen and Coplin said the grants would purchase and equip the incubator. For the RBTC to become sustainable, they envision the tenants of the building will pay a modest rent, students will pay a training fee, existing businesses will sign training contracts, and local governments will support the group financially.

All these tactics are designed to help new start-ups prosper, they said. If their plans to locate the incubator on Strawberry Street succeed, it will help revitalize the downtown.