Eustis Enters Partnership with UCF for Business Incubator

Published on May 17, 2023

The City of Eustis recently entered a partnership agreement with the University of Central Florida (UCF) to establish a business incubator in the heart of the City’s downtown district. The new UCF Business Incubator-Eustis location is scheduled to open in August 2023 and will provide an array of support services for entrepreneurs and early-stage businesses.

The formation of the UCF Business Incubator-Eustis is a public-private partnership collaboration between Lake County, the City of Eustis, and Mega Properties. This partnership helps reinforce Lake County’s dedication to supporting entrepreneurs. The County and the City are providing the funding and Mega Properties’ has customized its building at 343 N. Bay Street to house the Incubator. “The Incubator will be a community resource that helps create jobs and increase economic growth,” said Al Latimer the City’s Economic Development Director.

With 8 other incubator partnerships in Central Florida, the UCF Business Incubator-Eustis is the first UCF managed incubator in Lake County.  The UCF Business Incubator–Eustis will provide a variety of services such as networking, business consulting, finance and accounting, education, technology, legal services, marketing, office operations, and more.  The space will also allow Incubator clients to have access to shared facilities such as conference rooms, and resource rooms.
 
As part of its program curriculum, UCF will facilitate two business boot camps per year to support existing small businesses in Eustis that focus on a wide range of business support modules, including Business Modeling, Organizational Structure, Customer Relations, and Operations/Finance.

Rob Panepinto, Director of Innovation Districts Strategy and Partnerships, UCF Business Incubation System says, “The Incubator will nurture young businesses through their early growth stage, initiate more businesses in targeted industry sectors, diversify the local economy, and create employment opportunities for residents of the City of Eustis and broader Lake County.”

The new UCF Business Incubator-Eustis will leverage UCF’s existing collaboration in the area, such as Lake Sumter State College’s, Director Connect to UCF program, and Lake Technical College’s internship program. Lake County UCF Alumni Club, academic entities such as the UCF Director Connect program, and interns.

For more information about the UCF Business Incubator-Eustis, please contact the City’s Economic Development Director, Al Latimer at (352) 483-5431 or email LatimerA@Eustis.org.