They spent a week giving a special training on incubator management, which was also attended by staff from incubators in St. Petersburg and Nizhni Novgorod. The participants realized that they are working in an economic movement that is growing and receiving world-wide recognition. Another positive outcome of this training is that representatives from several Russian incubators are meeting to organize an incubator association in Russia, so that they will be able to support each other after all the foreign assistance has gone. After six months of hammering out a credit program with a local bank, the Volkhov Incubator is now operational. We made our first loans in July.
Every day brings new challenges, some triumphs and occasional disappointments.
Final results will only be apparent several years down the road, but already the incubator has sped the growth of small businesses by offering a protected environment, individual consultations and constant exposure to other small businesses at similar stages of development. The concept is ideally suited to new women entrepreneurs at this transitional stage of Russia's economic development. Grace Kennan Warnecke is the executive vice president of the Alliance of Russian and American Women, and the president of Sovus Business Consultants.