Dozens of businesses started life in Economic Development Center's incubator in St. Charles County

Since its own birth in 1993, the business incubator at the Economic Development Center of St. Charles County has been the home to more than 150 fledgling companies.

The incubator has housed companies selling everything from soaps to microwave components to Web sites. Whether a company was product or sales driven, the EDC incubator has offered shared services and free business advice to companies ready to take a giant step from the basement and into the corporate world.

Businesses who choose to incubate at the EDC will receive a variety of shared services and equipment, including access to copy machines, a receptionist, conference rooms and business management consultation services, as part of the leasing agreement.

The EDC also has staff on hand to help small businesses with free advice on financing, marketing or any other business issue that arises.

An onsite loan officer can also help small businesses with the ins and outs of loan processing.

The business incubator at the EDC will celebrate 15 years in business this March. A celebratory open house will be held from 3 to 7 p.m. on March 6 at the EDC, 5988 Mid Rivers Mall Drive.

"Since the EDC opened its first business incubator 15 years ago, we have been pleased to see more than 150 graduates from our program into the general marketplace," said Greg Prestemon, president of the EDC. "Those companies created 500 jobs at graduation and that total has now grown to more than 1,000, with 76 of our business graduates still growing strong. "

Scott Drachnik, vice president of marketing for the EDC, said Synergetics USA was one of the incubator's most noteworthy tenants. The company had its start in a home garage before moving into the business incubator. The company develops and manufactures microsurgical instruments for the eye care industry.

"They are a publicly traded company on the stock exchange. (They) also won O'Fallon's Manufacturer of the Year Award in 2007 and was one of only two companies to win a Community Award in 2007 from Progress 64 West," said Drachnik.

While most tenants spent an average of three years growing a business in the incubator, CDKWeb Inc. graduated in a mere 11 months. The Web site design and software development company made incubator history with its tremendously rapid growth and now operates out of its own location in St. Charles.

TelGaAs, developer and manufacturer of microwave and millimeter wave components for telecommunication and military applications, also made incubator history as the EDC's longest leaseholder. The company spent about 10 years in the incubator. The company suffered the loss of one of the founding partners in its first years and it struggled to stay afloat. With the help of the EDC services, Craig Frahm, CFO for the EDC, said the company now operates out of its own building in O'Fallon and employs about 25 people.

Bret Bonacorsi, co-owner of U Design Jewelry, is hoping to spend a little less time at the EDC. U Design Jewelry made the transition from a home-based business into the EDC incubator about three years ago. Bonacorsi said he was referred to the EDC by friends.

"The staff (at the EDC) has been awesome...Mark (Dilberto) has helped us with a business loan...and the staff in general has been great," said Bonacorsi.

The shared services which include conference rooms, a mail room and receptionist, allowed the company to utilize services that would not have been attainable on its own.

"It's been a blessing to us," said Bonacorsi, who hopes to graduate from the program in the next year or so.

Jeremy Buchheit, owner of Synergy Medical Group, chose the EDC for his business home because of the amenities he would not have been able to afford on his own.

Buchheit also loves the ability to "synergize all the other small businesses. " In addition to the amenities and the business expertise, Buchheit was able to secure some small financing through the EDC "to get us over the hump when we needed it most. "

And since moving into the EDC in June 2005, Synergy Medical Group has already expanded.

"I was able to expand within the building without dealing with all the hassles such as paying another down payment, and dealing with the internet and phone companies," said Buchheit, who sells customized medical disposables to healthcare facilities specializing in Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and infection control products. "We moved furniture and we were fully operational. "

With recent graduations, the EDC incubator is also looking for a few new tenants.

Frahm said there is about 6,000 square feet of office space available for lease. Interested businesses can contact Frahm at 636-441-6880.