The Concho Valley Center for Entrepreneurial Development (CVCED) is a business incubator established in 2003 through the efforts of many individuals and organizations whose vision was to improve the environment for entrepreneurship in San Angelo and the Concho Valley Region. The CVCED serves as a springboard for area entrepreneurs and provides the tools, expertise and networks to help ensure the success of its client companies.  

The CVCED business incubator is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that is supported primarily by a grant from the City of San Angelo through the City of San Angelo Development Corporation (COSADC), and through fees generated by in-house clients. The CVCED also partners with other local and regional economic development entities to improve the business climate in the City and the region. Primary partners include the San Angelo Chamber of Commerce, the Angelo State University Small Business Development Center, and the Concho Valley Workforce Development Board.

A business incubator is an economic development tool designed to accelerate the growth and success of entrepreneurial companies through a variety of business support resources and services. The CVCED business incubator’s main goal is to nurture its clients and produce successful firms that will graduate from the program financially viable and stable. Graduate firms create jobs, revitalize neighborhoods, commercialize new technologies, and strengthen the local economy.

Business incubation is a proven method of business enterprise development.  The CVCED business incubator nurtures young firms, providing tools that help them to survive and grow during the start-up period when they are most vulnerable.  The CVCED business incubator provides in-house management counseling and access to critical business and technical support services, and also offers client firms shared office services, equipment access, flexible office leases and expandable space—all under one roof.

As of December 2011, the CVCED has provided assistance to 24 companies, resulting in an additional $18.3 million in sales revenue since 2003, and $8.9 million in payroll during the same time.  The CVCED clients have created more than 331 new jobs, and one graduated client expanded into the international marketplace.

Grants from the COSADC have been the primary source of funding for the CVCED since its inception. For every $1 invested by the COSADC, the business incubator clients have returned $19.78 in additional sales and an additional $9.60 in payroll to the community. 

“Business incubators reduce the risk of small business failures. NBIA member incubators report that 87 percent of all firms that graduated from their incubators are still in business.”
National Business Incubator Association