The decatur-Morgan county entrepreneurial Center

Known as “The E-Center,” the Decatur-Morgan County Entrepreneurial Center started in 2010 under the founding leadership of its first Executive Director, Larry Waye, and a Founding Board. Prospects for the incubator were uncertain at the time.

The E-Center grew and continued to serve more and more businesses by staying true to its mission to encourage, enthuse, and empower entrepreneurs and small businesses. The organization developed a reputation for intensive coaching, telling entrepreneurs the hard things they needed to hear, and caring about them through the ups and downs of launching any business. Workshops, educational courses, training sessions, and strategic partnerships all enhanced The E-Center’s ability to serve entrepreneurs better along the way.

Today, The E-Center remains over 90% full and serves 40+ businesses at any given time. In addition, it now provides educational courses attended by people throughout North Alabama, rents or provides facilities to organizations throughout the community, hosts food trucks, convenes conferences, conducts an annual Leadercast seminar, and much more.

In 2018, Waye decided to step down as Executive Director and appoint his successor to expand the organization’s mission and enhance new offerings for entrepreneurs. The E-Center then expanded operations, undertaking a long-term strategic plan to diversify and expand the area economy. Components of the resulting strategic plan included recruiting emerging companies from growing industries; recruiting and retaining young professionals; creating a new generation of entrepreneurs and expanding access to key resources; securing new national and regional partnerships; and focusing on increasing the long-term economic impact in key industries including agricultural technology and robotics. The E-Center thus became one of the first, if not the first incubator in the country to launch a long-term economic development arm. It now runs various first-in-nation and first-in-state initiatives.

Although The E-Center’s operations now help build tomorrow’s economy through its long-term economic development arm, it remains first and foremost a business incubator which is strengthening today’s economy by supporting entrepreneurs and small businesses. Our dedicated staff seeks to serve everyone whether you are an E-Center client or not. So, if you have a business idea, want to learn how to get started, or you’re just having a tough week, feel free to drop in and say hello! We want to help you however we can.