All the tools are already here. Emerging entrepreneurs, working alongside business veterans who know how to build a thriving business, can create new jobs.

Tuscarawas County has a wealth of resources — a talented work force, institutes of higher learning, and innovative entrepreneurs — to help lead Ohio’s economic recovery. But we need to connect these assets with budding Ohio’s businesses. That’s why business incubators, like the Tuscarawas County Business Incubator — which was mentioned in a recent Times-Reporter article (“New Phila. business a finalist for national honor,” March 23) — are vital to Ohio’s sustained economic recovery.

We all know that small businesses are engines of economic growth — creating nearly two-thirds of new jobs nationwide. I was proud to vote for the bipartisan Small Business Jobs Act, which has helped unfreeze the credit market for small businesses. But access to credit is only one of many hurdles that small businesses must overcome, and that’s why business incubators are so important.

Business incubators equip entrepreneurs with the tools they need to excel. By teaching best practices, minimizing expenses, and sharing resources, business incubators reduce the risk of small business failures. According to the Ohio-based National Business Incubator Association, 87 percent of all firms that have completed business-incubator training are still in business. And as The Times-Reporter noted, one New Philadelphia firm, Electronic Data Payment Systems, had such success with business incubation, it’s now up for national recognition.

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