About Us
Mission
To positively impact regional economic development by fostering entrepreneurship and enterprise growth. AXIS is the place where entrepreneurs’ and founders’ ideas and bold aspirations meet stability to transform into reality. We work to enhance the skills of entrepreneurs and improve the viability of small businesses.
A business incubator’s main goal is to produce successful firms that will leave the program financially viable and freestanding. These incubator graduates have the potential to create jobs, revitalize neighborhoods, commercialize new technologies, and strengthen local, regional and national economies.
The mission of an incubator is achieved through management guidance, technical assistance and consulting tailored to young growing companies. The facilities and services offered in AXIS include:
- Appropriate office and work space with flexible leases
- Shared basic office services and equipment
- Assistance in obtaining appropriate financing for growth
- Other shared facilities, including meeting rooms, parking, and reception
- Extensive, focused and customized coaching and training of management and business skills
Facilities
AXIS is located within the Francis Tuttle Technology Center Danforth Campus, 3841 E. Danforth Rd., Edmond, Ok.
The incubator facility has eight furnished offices for client use and five flexible areas ranging from 400 to 1400 square feet that can be used for light manufacturing, warehousing and logistics or other laboratory applications. In addition, two conference rooms, both equipped with audio visual capabilities are available for clients use. The incubator also has a kitchen/break room and a common area business center.
History of incubation
The first incubator was created in 1958, when the Mancuso family purchased a closed Massey Ferguson factory in Batavia, New York. They renovated the facility and rented out sections to small startup companies. They quickly learned that these new entrepreneurs knew their trades and how to manufacture their products, but had little or no knowledge of business practices or how to manage a business. To protect their investment, they began to provide coaching and business training to their tenants.
Today, the National Business Incubator Association (NBIA) estimates that there are some 7,000 incubators worldwide with approximately 1,400 in the United States. The 2012 State of the Industry Report states that there are 49,000 U.S. companies in incubation with over 200,000 full time employees. These incubator clients generated over $15,000,000,000 in revenue last year.
What is a Business Incubator
A business incubator is a concept that accelerates successful development of entrepreneurial companies by providing an array of business support resources and services. The incubator serves the needs of entrepreneurs starting a new venture as well as early stage companies facing struggles in today’s economic situation. Business incubators provide long-term opportunities for new job creation, business development and retention. Business incubation has provided solid evidence of its capacity to nurture entrepreneurial business development and, in the long-term, maintain and retain new business ventures.
- Business incubators reduce the risk of small business failures. Historically, members of the National Business Incubation Association have reported that 88 percent of all firms that have graduated from their incubators are still in business after five years. Government and private studies show that, in general, about 20% of startup businesses survive in the real world. Statistics and experiences strongly suggest that business incubation reduces the risk of small business failures.
- Incubation programs create jobs more effectively than do other types of public works infrastructure projects. In late 2008, Grant Thornton conducted a study for the U.S. Economic Development Administration that found that business incubators provide communities with significantly greater results at less cost than do other types of public works infrastructure projects. In a study of the economic impacts and federal costs of EDA construction program investments, researchers found that business incubators are the most effective means of creating jobs – more effective than roads and bridges, industrial parks, commercial buildings, and sewer and water projects. In fact, incubators provide up to 20 times more jobs than community infrastructure projects (e.g., water and sewer projects) at a cost of $144 to $216 per job, compared with $2,920 to $6,872 per job for the latter, the report notes.
- Business incubation programs make important contributions to their local economies. The National Business Incubation Association’s 2006 State of the Business Incubation Industry report found that North American incubators, on average, served 25 client companies. These firms reported that their businesses were doing well. NBIA asked respondents to report combined client revenues for both in-house and affiliate clients for the most recent fiscal year. The average figure was more than $16 million – an impressive tally for firms that are just starting out.
- Government subsidies for well-managed business incubation programs represent strong investments in local and regional economies. Consider these returns: Research has shown that for every $1 of estimated public operating subsidy provided the incubator, clients and graduates of NBIA member incubators generate approximately $30 in local tax revenue alone. NBIA members have reported that 84 percent of incubator graduates stay in their communities.
- Incubator graduates create jobs, revitalize neighborhoods and commercialize new technologies, thus strengthening local, regional and even national economies. NBIA estimates that in 2005 alone, North American incubators assisted more than 27,000 start-up companies that provided full-time employment for more than 100,000 workers and generated annual revenue of more than $17 billion.
