43
YBI second in the world
By Kalea Hall
YOUNGSTOWN
The Youngstown Business Incubator didn’t get the No. 1 title of top incubator in the world.
Instead, it took second place in the world this year as a University Associated Incubator and first place in North America.
But the incubator is better now than when it received the top ranking in 2014 from UBI Global in Stockholm, Sweden.
And its leaders say it will continue to be better.
We cannot “lose sight of the goal and continue to have strong programs next year,” said Barb Ewing, chief operating officer of YBI, in announcing its recognition for 2015 from UBI Global, a “thought leader in performance analysis of business incubation around the world,” according to its website.
UBI Global helps business incubators become more efficient and competitive through a benchmark system with more than 400 incubation programs in more than 70 countries.
“It really, really, truly is an honor to be among so many outstanding organizations,” Ewing said.
This year, YBI, located at 241 W. Federal St., came in second to the Dublin Enterprise and Technology Centre, also known as the Guinness Enterprise Centre, in Dublin, Ireland. The incubator was in a slightly modified category this year compared with last year and competed against more incubators.
In its application, the incubator highlighted some of the steps it took to continue its growth and help more entrepreneurs grow their ideas.
In 2015, YBI started a Women’s Entrepreneurship Program, took over the former Vindicator building, located at West Boardman Street and Vindicator Square, as the fifth building in its growing campus; and started AMPED, a $100,000 start-up business competition.
“We are a much-better organization with much-stronger programs,” Ewing said.
YBI expects to have its new building ready by the fourth quarter of next year. Winners of the competition are expected to be announced this week.
The incubator, in partnership with the Tech Belt Energy Innovation Center in Warren and the Mahoning Valley Economic Development Corp., expects to hear this week if it received funding from the state for future investment in companies.
While all of this is happening, YBI still looks to grow its “deal flow,” or bring in credible entrepreneurs with ideas that are technically sound with a verified market.
YBI houses 21 companies and works with about 40 other outside companies. On average, the incubator brings in about eight to 10 companies a year, but the leadership at the incubator wants to increase that to 18 to 20 companies within the next five years.
“The quality of our deal flow is a much higher quality of ideas than in the past,” Ewing said.