TVA to Co-sponsor Business Incubation Conference
August 30, 2002
TVA and the Appalachian Regional Commission will co-host “Winning with Business Incubation,” a conference on strategies for business incubation and entrepreneurship, September 5 and 6 in Knoxville at the Radisson Summit Hill Hotel.
About 200 participants representing various local, county, and state economic development groups are expected to attend. The conference will examine the latest trends in creating and maintaining successful business incubators and innovative ways to generate economic growth.
TVA Chairman Glenn McCullough Jr. and ARC Federal Co-Chairman Jesse White Jr. will open the conference at 8:15 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 5. Tennessee Governor Don Sundquist and Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development Tony Grande are among those also expected to attend the conference.
The conference is also being sponsored by the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, the Development District Association of Appalachia, the National Business Incubation Association, and the National Association of Regional Councils.
A business incubator is an economic development tool designed to accelerate the growth and success of entrepreneurial companies through an array of business support resources and services. TVA currently supports a network of 22 business incubators that serve more than 1,100 new businesses. TVA’s business incubation network has assisted in the creation of more than 6,100 jobs.
Congress established the ARC in 1965 to promote economic and social development, including business incubation and infrastructure support, in the Appalachian region. The region includes all of West Virginia and parts of 12 other states along the spine of the Appalachian Mountains from northern Mississippi to southern New York. The ARC has funded more than 200 projects providing support for the key elements of an entrepreneurial economy.
TVA is the nation’s largest public power producer, and its power system is self-financed. TVA provides power to large industries and 158 power distributors that serve 8.3 million consumers.
Media Contact:
Lucha Ramey, Knoxville (865-632-8385) or TVA News Bureau, Knoxville (865-632-6000)
