Marion County Florida Map

County may give boost to business incubator

At a commission workshop Friday, Jaye Baillie, president and CEO of the Ocala-Marion County Chamber of Commerce, presented a plan for a local business "incubator" program that finances people looking to launch their own business.

The program would make small loans available to budding capitalists whose ideas do not qualify for conventional bank funding.

Key to the initiative, Baillie said, would be the partnership between Ocala's business community and local governments and the University of Florida and University of Central Florida. Both universities have created several incubators previously but are joining forces for the first time in Ocala.

"It really is another leg to our economic development strategy and would put us on the map as being an innovative, aggressive community," Baillie told the board.

The program — known as the First Step Fund — would be modeled after a program in the Detroit area.

Mahendra Ramsinghani, director of the Michigan program, explained that his program was born as General Motors and Chrysler faltered in 2008.

Ten private foundations came together to create a $100 million trust to back new business opportunities driven by new technology and innovation and to revamp the Motor City's battered image.

The Detroit First Step Fund obtained $5 million of that pie and launched about 15 months ago, Ramsinghani said.

Four incubators have been created to serve southeast Michigan, and to date they have received business plans from 120 companies, he added.

The fund has invested a total of $1.2 million in 28 of those companies, creating about 130 jobs.

Ramsinghani acknowledged that was a small number of new jobs, and that there was a risk. One company has already shut down and he predicted more would.

But he argued that a few successes would make the program meaningful.

He noted that 24 of those companies have used the First Step cash to generate $17 million in new capital from other investors and have routinely created jobs paying in excess of $50,000 a year.

"None of them are anywhere close to being as big as General Motors," Ramsinghani added, "but our hope is that in 20, 30, 40 years these are some of the acorns that could become the oak trees of the future."

Rusty Branson, a director of Gateway Bank in Ocala, told the commission that a roundtable of as many as a dozen local bankers would vet the projects and vote collectively and unanimously to approve them. The banks would then service the loans on a round-robin basis.

Florida Rural Housing USDA Map - Ocala,Leesburg

Click here to check all the USDA eligible locations throughout Florida. When you input the property address, leave out the city name. Just input the street/number address, state and zip code. The result will tell you if the address is USDA/Rural ELIGIBLE or INELIGABLE. If the result says “invalid” it’s not picking up the address. Contact USDA Mortgage Source  and we can assist you.

USDA Mortgage Source is Florida’s leader in 100% rural housing loans, serving you 7 days a week. Ocala, Leesburg, Mt.Dora, Clermont and all stops in between, please visit our main web site at www.UsdaMortgageSource.com for more information. You can also call us at 904.302.6060.

Not located in a rural area?Check into FHA mortgages here

Alachua County | Baker County | Bay County | Bradford County | Brevard County | Broward County | Calhoun County | Charlotte County | Citrus County | Clay County | Collier County | Columbia County | Dade County | De Soto County | Dixie County | Duval County | Escambia County | Flagler County | Franklin County | Gadsden County | County Gilchrist | Glades County | Gulf County | Hamilton County | Hardee County | Hendry County | Hernando County | Highlands County | Hillsborough County | County Holmes | Indian River County | Jackson County | Jefferson County | Lafayette County | Lake County | Lee County | Leon County | Levy County | Liberty County | Madison | Manatee County | Marion County | Martin County | Monroe County | county Nassau | Okaloosa County | Okeechobee County | Orange County | Osceola County | Palm Beach County | Pasco County | Pinellas County | Polk County | Putnam County | Saint Johns County | St.

Ocala, Marion County, Florida Map

Map of Marion County, Florida, 1892

The State geologist's journal

Historic Ocala, The Story of Ocala & Marion County

Catalog of copyright entries, Musical compositions