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A Naples business incubator avoided the governor's veto pen and will receive $2 million from the state.
Business Observer readers might recall the recent story of Arpad Solti, the Hungarian software entrepreneur who based his U.S. operations at the Naples Accelerator. Solti selected Naples for the base of his U.S. operations because of the Accelerator, which helps foreign companies establish a presence in this country.
Now, with the additional funding, the Accelerator plans to open an office in Immokalee, in rural eastern Collier County. The Immokalee office will focus on working with small- and medium-sized businesses involved in food technology for the agribusiness and culinary industries.
Already, the Accelerator boasts 22 companies at the Naples offices on Kraft Road, and Marshall Goodman (pictured above), president and CEO of the nonprofit, says it needs to double the space.
With corporate heavy hitters on its board such as Jean-Pierre Garnier, former CEO of pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, there is an effort underway to create a venture fund to invest in some of the Accelerator's most promising companies.
“This is very exciting news and an important show of support from Tallahassee,” says Goodman in a statement. “It shows they support the business climate and entrepreneurial culture we are trying to grow in this community.”
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