An array of groups, programs and nonprofits designed to help small businesses and entrepreneurs once scattered across Durango are now under one roof at Fort Lewis College’s Center for Innovation, located in the space vacated by GitPrime in the Main Mall.
“Our goal is to house every resource available for small businesses and entrepreneurs in the region,” said Steve Elias, dean of the School of Business Administration, at the Center for Innovation’s official opening on Thursday.
In the 7,000-square-foot space, originally renovated by GitPrime in 2019, the Center for Innovation will house the Southwest Colorado Small Business Development Center, the Southwest Colorado Accelerator Program for Entrepreneurs, Hawk Tank and the Southern Ute Indian Tribe Entrepreneurs Resource Center, which is currently under development.
The center will also house representatives from FLC’s School of Business Administration, including being the home to the school’s new entrepreneurship and small-business development major.
“We wanted to create a one-stop shop for entrepreneurs and small-business owners. It’s important for us to be able to help out a business at any stage from startup to maturity,” Elias told more than 100 people who gathered at the Main Mall for the center’s unveiling.
Jeff Kraft, business funding and incentives director for the state Office of Economic Development and International Trade, noted that housing all available small-business assistance programs in Southwest Colorado under one roof also makes it easer for the state OEDIT office to provide one place for it to offer information about help the state agency offers businesses.
He noted getting word out about business assistance offered by OEDIT to rural communities beyond the Front Range is a top goal of Gov. Jared Polis’ administration.
“For a small town in Colorado, Durango already has an unparalleled track record for generating startup companies,” Kraft noted, citing the creation of payment processor Mercury, now a part of Worldpay, which was acquired in April 2019 by Fidelity National Information Services Inc., more commonly known as FIS, in a $35 billion deal.
Kraft noted OEDIT can use the Center for Innovation as a hub to provide information about Opportunity Zone possibilities for small businesses and entrepreneurs in La Plata County.
Durango and southern La Plata County are listed as Opportunity Zones.
An Opportunity Zone is a federal tax incentive for investors in low-income urban and rural communities that offers favorable treatment of reinvested capital gains and forgiveness of tax on new capital gains that was created by the Trump administration with passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.
Under the new tax law, any corporation or individual with capital gains can qualify. The program provides three tax benefits for investing unrealized capital gains in Opportunity Zones:
Deferring temporarily taxes on previously earned capital gains. Investors can place existing assets with accumulated capital gains into Opportunity Funds. Those existing capital gains are not taxed until the end of 2026 or when the asset is disposed of.Excluding 10% of the capital gains earned in a business in an Opportunity Zone if the investment is made for at least five years and excluding another 5% of capital gains, if the investment is made for at least seven years.Excluding permanently taxable income on new gains. For investments held for at least 10 years, investors pay no taxes on any capital gains produced through their investment in Opportunity Zones.David Sitton, owner of Aspen Wood Products in Mancos and Aspen Wall Wood in Dolores, said locating all programs that assist new and developing businesses under one roof will make it easier for new businesses to take advantage of the expertise provided by regional economic development agencies.
He noted Aspen Wood Products and Aspen Wall Wood initially obtained help from the Small Business Development Center in developing a marketing plan and assisting with the legal framework necessary to ship internationally.
Aspen Wood Products and Aspen Wall Wood, he said, now have customers in Mexico, New Zealand and potentially in Dubai.
“It’s easy to pooh-pooh a business plan, but if you get going, it really matters. You need an accurate cash-flow forecast, you need to know what it takes to ship internationally,” he said.
parmijo@ durangoherherald.com