A center for small businesses to get their feet wet and grow into prosperous job creators will open next month in West Des Moines.

The West Des Moines Business Incubator will occupy 7,000 square feet – enough room for about 14 offices and cubicles – in a three-story office building at 2829 Westown Parkway.

The business itself is a nonprofit organization created at the urging of West Des Moines Community and Economic Development Director Clyde Evans, who said he had a “germ of an idea” to bring different organizations together for the benefit of small business owners.

City staff developed the idea, an offshoot of the city’s efforts to spur economic development.

The Mid Iowa Small Business Development Center (SBDC) agreed to operate the incubator and help fledgling businesses develop business plans, tweak those that already were in place and find financing or even a new location. Most importantly, the center’s staff could provide mentoring services, Evans said.

“Companies have a higher rate of success when there is a strong mentoring service,” he said. “It is one of the harder parts of the equation to solve.”

West Des Moines seemed an ideal location for an incubator, especially one that would focus on “office type” uses, Evans said. The center will not cater to retail or food preparation services.

The West Des Moines City Council has approved a $10,000 grant to help jump-start the business incubator. The West Des Moines Chamber of Commerce will provide another $10,000 and the U.S. Small Business Administration will kick in $25,000.

Evans said that with small businesses generating 70 to 80 percent of the job growth in the country, it is important for the city to encourage entrepreneurs to look to the city as the ideal location fortheir enterprises.

“We want to create an environment that is conducive to growth,” he said. “We think there is great potential here in the city, with its demographics and educational makeup.”

The Mid Iowa SBDC will move its offices and functions to the business incubator, said director Sherry Shafer, who will be in charge of both operations. She said she doubted all the “boxes would be unpacked” until mid-October.