Gateway center to aid startups

Can the Center for Entrepreneurial Innovation be a gateway to job growth? That’s the hope as it formally opens its doors this week. Housed in east Phoenix on the campus of GateWay Community College, the business incubator is holding its grand opening Thursday.

After a soft opening in January 2012, the CEI is now working with 11 bioscience and tech companies. These startups receive reduced rent for the types of technical spaces they need to succeed: lab and server space, cuttingedge conference rooms and, of course, plenty of outlets. There is also executive and legal mentoring.

“They have these great facilities here that are fully equipped with the kind of infrastructure we need as a capital-intensive technology startup,” said Mark Sholin, founder and CEO of Arbsource, which treats wastewater for food and beverage companies.

Arbsource is one of CEI’s first success stories. Since moving into CEI, the company has added three employees as its business has expanded.

The CEI will eventually be home to 35 companies, said Jeff Saville, the incubator’s executive director. Most of those companies will stay at the CEI for three to five years.

“We would love to see them create 10 to 15 jobs apiece in the time they are in the program,” he said.

The CEI is funded with a $2.5 million grant from the Economic Development Administration, which GateWay Community College and the Maricopa County Community College District matched, Saville said. The city of Phoenix kicked in $800,000.

The CEI’s mission is jobs, of course. But it’s also creating a synergy among new companies in the Valley, students at GateWay Community College who can assist these companies and a region that is always looking to grow its own.

“The mission was to build a strong program that allows us to support entrepreneurs to build those jobs we are always talking about,” Saville said. ARIZONA ECONOMY