Battle Creek Unlimited, a business development and funding group, is announcing a partnership that will help start-up businesses in southwestern Michigan to get up and running.

BCU -- in partnership with Factotem, a business accelerator and design-build firm -- will build a virtual business incubator.  

The incubator will provide a comprehensive array of tools, links, resource contacts and information that will help entrepreneurs commercialize their ideas and accelerate that process by bringing the right people and resources together in a virtual environment.

Under the new partnership, BCU will provide the content, information resources and start-up business expertise, while Factotem will provide the Web-enabled capabilities and environment that will bring the information to life. The virtual business incubator will be launched in the first half of 2009.

Part of this effort also includes finding business experts, professors, entrepreneurs and others to act as advisors, mentors and coaches for these start-up businesses. BCU is seeking seasoned professionals with experience in finance, law, business, marketing, human resources and other business-related fields to participate on its Advisory Board and serve as resources for these start-up businesses. 

"There has been a lot of discussion between the city and BCU about creating a ‘start-up friendly’ business environment in our city,” said Battle Creek Mayor Mark Behnke. “BCU and bcVentures have created a great deal of activity among technology-based businesses with an interest in Battle Creek, and I applaud them for providing these new cutting-edge services and tools to help us develop more technology jobs in our community."

“BCU’s virtual business incubator will provide Battle Creek with a scalable online resource that enables and leverages local expertise and talent to facilitate and accelerate entrepreneurial growth,” said Factotem Project Manager Joey Silvian.

The Factotem Team has led business incubator and acceleration projects for Ann Arbor Spark, the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, the Great Lakes Entrepreneur's Quest, and the Michigan Economic Development Corp.’s 21st Century Jobs Fund.

More at  www.bcunlimited.org.