CRA Approves $20,000 for Incubation Program

FORT MYERS, Fla. — The Fort Myers Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) recently approved an amount not to exceed $20,000 for the SWFL Enterprise Center (SWFEC) Incubation Program.

The funds will be used to engage Dr. Peter Oscody of PreneurDomain to develop an incubation program for the SWFEC.

The SWFEC currently runs various trainings for small business owners to gain basic knowledge of developing a business, learn some of the fundamental skills including bookkeeping and some practical training like pre-construction, general construction and auto repair.

“These are good and useful training courses, but somewhat lacking the programmatic nature of an incubator,” said Oscody. “As entrepreneurs are at different stages of development, an incubator program needs to be able to provide appropriate training at the varied entrepreneurial evolutionary stages. Those evolutionary steps need to connect so that entrepreneurs can move through development stages as their business becomes more mature.”

Oscody said many of the entrepreneurs applying to participate are not yet ready for an incubator program Therefore, a pre-incubation (ideation stage through basic prototype but no sales of product/service yet) series of workshops or courses are required so that a more qualified pipeline of entrepreneur candidates can be produced for the incubator program.

The Southwest Florida Enterprise Center Incubation Program will offer programs of different length including 6-month, 1-year, and 2-year according to the maturity of the enterprise as well as programs for different types of entrepreneurs such as trades-based entrepreneurs (profession- or trades-based small business development), social entrepreneurs (social impact focused, triple-bottom-line, and b-corps), and potentially venture entrepreneurs (requiring some level of original innovation). Facilities will be available for enterprises that participate in the Incubator Program and every participant business will have set KPIs to achieve and so their performance is closely monitored on a quarterly basis. Extending participation will be connected to performance measures.

Ocsody as a life-long entrepreneur has developed and advised businesses on three continents over 25 years. He has been working with entrepreneurial startups and intrapreneurial innovation labs growing and scaling projects and ventures in his entire career.

In 2019 he began working with the SWFL Community Foundation and Collaboratory as its Chief Strategy and Operations Officer. He served in that role for two years devising the ‘Everest Strategy’ and making it operational at the Collaboratory providing numerous programs and services to the regional community.

In his consulting practice – PreneurDomain – he continues working with Collaboratory leading its impact investing program and startup community and ecosystem development initiatives. As part of that work, he is extensively collaborating with regional stakeholders. He is also an Assistant Professor of Management, receiving his Ph.D. in Management specializing in entrepreneurship in 2019 from MIU. Dr. Ocsody also has a bachelor’s degree in economics, minoring in engineering, an MBA in organization development, and studied advanced project management at Stanford.

PreneurDomain (www.preneurdomain.org) provides education and consulting services to entrepreneurs and business owners at varied stages of their development from early-stage startups (venture and social entrepreneurs) through growing small businesses to well-established companies (corporate entrepreneurs) that may require a major profile and organizational change. With its education services, PreneurDomain enhances enterprises’ capacities and capabilities with specific tools and techniques, technology applications and integrations, and culture and social consciousness. These educational services will also provide seminars, workshops, incubator and accelerator programs as well as certifications and digital badges (certiport-based and its own) based on completed educational modules. In its consulting services, PreneurDomain delivers system (management, organizational, information) assessments, designs, and deployments based on the companies’ needs for their next stage of development. 

About PreneurDomain
PreneurDomain (www.preneurdomain.org) provides education and consulting services to entrepreneurs and business owners at varied stages of their development from early-stage startups (venture and social entrepreneurs) through growing small businesses to well-established companies (corporate entrepreneurs) that may require a major profile and organizational change. With its education services, PreneurDomain enhances enterprises’ capacities and capabilities with specific tools and techniques, technology applications and integrations, and culture and social consciousness. These educational services will also provide seminars, workshops, incubator and accelerator programs as well as certifications and digital badges (certiport-based and its own) based on completed educational modules. In its consulting services, PreneurDomain delivers system (management, organizational, information) assessments, designs, and deployments based on the companies’ needs for their next stage of development. PreneurDomain is located at 2031 Jackson Street, Fort Myers, FL 33901.

About the Fort Myers Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA)
The Fort Myers Community Redevelopment Agency was created in 1984 by the City of Fort Myers, Florida, under Florida Statute Chapter 163, to formulate a plan and strategy for the revitalization of the downtown River District.

The Fort Myers CRA has continued to grow, and redevelopment areas have been added throughout the city. Today, the Fort Myers Community Redevelopment Agency encourages and oversees redevelopment in five designated areas that contain a total of sixteen distinct geographic sections within the Fort Myers city limits.

The Fort Myers CRA, along with the City’s Community Development Division, prepares plans for the revitalization of each area and coordinates the implementation of the plan’s recommendations. Tax Increment Funds (TIF) generated by each area, combined with other funding sources, are used to upgrade the public infrastructure and to stimulate redevelopment in the same area where it was generated.

The Fort Myers City Council members, sitting as the Community Redevelopment Agency Board of Commissioners, oversee the Agency’s divisions and their operations. The Fort Myers CRA office is located at 1400 Jackson Street in the Downtown River District.