This story originally ran with an incorrect Grice Connect byline. It was written by Liz Walker for Georgia Southern Magazine. We apologize for the error.
It’s beginning to look a lot different when you come into downtown Statesboro, Georgia on Highway 24. The Business Innovation Group (BIG) at the Innovation Incubator (I2) is getting ready to open the new Conference Center. The new building is adding office suites and more than 14,000 square feet of new space to BIG.
“Our first tenants are moving in August 1, 2024 and our first conference is booked for a regional event in collaboration with Georgia Power taking place in September,” said Dominique Hallaby, DPA, founder of BIG and Associate Provost for Innovation & Commercialization.
The launching of the new incubator keeps BIG on the growth trajectory that it’s been on for nearly 10 years. Just last year in all locations, BIG has been responsible for the launching of 57 new businesses and provided assistance for nearly 500 businesses.
BIG has also been responsible for the development of over $100 million in capital access for those businesses to grow and accelerate. What’s even more impressive, BIG has been responsible for 2,242 jobs supported.
“BIG has been instrumental in guiding Georgia Southern University’s efforts to join the group of fewer than 100 universities to secure the Innovation and Economic Prosperity designation from the Association of Public Land-grant Universities,” said Halaby. “That has been a major accomplishment.”
BIG also has a person running retail recruitment for the city. This makes Statesboro one of the few cities in the U.S. where the city actually contracts the retail spending type of its economic development to the University.
“So if you ever wonder why there’s not a Target in town, well now the responsibility of getting companies like that here falls on our division,” said Halaby.
“We’ve had lots of conversations with companies that the city just wasn’t having before. We’ve brought people down here in the cloak of night for them to check out Statesboro," Hallaby added. "We’re pushing the needle to help Statesboro grow and make sure people are aware of all the exciting things happening in the town. We’re doing those kinds of things to make sure people are thinking about Statesboro and that it’s changing rapidly.”
So the next time you drive downtown in Statesboro, take a look at BIG and the new conference center. You can see that Statesboro is thinking BIG…One More Time.
