WEST LIBERTY, W.Va., Sept. 4, 2018 — West Liberty University’s on-campus Business Incubator is now looking for entrepreneurial-minded students, staff and alumni, looking to advance start-up ideas.

“I’m inviting any and all members of the campus community to call or visit our new on-campus location in Main Hall and discuss ideas for new businesses,” said Dr. Rickard Briggs, director of MBA program and assistant professor of entrepreneurship at the Gary E. West College of Business.

Created, developed and operated by Briggs, the Business Incubator is a collaborative workspace that fosters creativity and innovation. It is located in Rooms 185 and 189, just across the hall from the Learning and Student Development Center.

“In conjunction with WLU’s key industry partners, alumni, professors and the West Liberty Foundation, our new on-campus incubator can help you bring your business concept to fruition. Any member of West Liberty University—students, faculty, staff and alumni—can take advantage of the incubator’s resources,” he added.

Those resources include:

• An advanced technology workspace for holding one-on-one coaching sessions, filming promotional videos, hosting business plan competition meetings, and running free workshops.
• An entrepreneurial ecosystem made up of students, business owners, and the small business community. 
• Access to the expertise of professionals within the Tri-state area.
• Capital financing for creating product prototypes, incorporating and starting a business, and more.

“We have office space for six entrepreneurs in the on-campus center and we have a unique vision for how our center can help our students develop their entrepreneurial ideas and transfer them into the community.

“While most incubators focus on business development, ours centers on prototyping. This is the process of ideation, prototype, review, and redesign. The concept is to allow for a test bed of ideas and space where risk can be taken absent cost, thus increasing the opportunity for the final project to be successful in the community,” he said.

For more information on the new on-campus Business Incubator, please contact Briggs at 304.336.8285 or contact Briggs via email at rickard.briggs@westliberty.edu.