MUSCLE SHOALS — Alabama is becoming known as an automotive manufacturing state.

Four years ago, Empire Electronics, a company that manufactures lighting and wiring harnesses for the automotive industry, was looking for a partner to help them provide products to a major customer in Muscle Shoals, North

American Lighting. Instead of partnering with another company, they discovered the Shoals

Entrepreneurial Center and learned about resources that would allow them to create a division of their own. Almost four years later, the company’s Alabama operation has grown so much that they have just completed a move into a 30,000 square foot building in Tuscumbia.

“We had never even heard of an entrepreneurial center or an incubator program,” said Barry Moore, materials manager for the company that is headquartered in Troy, Michigan. “We wanted to be able to provide our products to our client, and we thought about building our own place or partnering with a company in the area. The idea of an incubator program where we could start small and grow our business in an environment that was in place just to help us grow, appealed to us. I pitched it to the management in Troy and we decided to go in that direction. It has worked well for us.”

The company’s Alabama operation started with five employees. However, they quickly outgrew their original location and moved to the Jerry Davis building on the Entrepreneurial Center’s main campus. Today, in their new Tuscumbia building, the company employs twentyfive people with further expansion planned.

“We’ve moved out of the Center, but we’re not saying goodbye,” said Moore. “The Entrepreneurial Center and the Shoals Economic Development Authority have been great to work with and they will continue to be a resource for us. If we need something, I’ll call one of them.

The Entrepreneurial Center is a business incubator where start-up and emerging companies locate during their initial growth phase, typically one to five years. It allows businesses to share space, services, and equipment in a controlled overhead environment. Incubator clients receive mentoring, networking, and public relations opportunities, access to equipment, and referral to professionals. All of this is to help them prepare to become selfsustaining members of the business community.

For more information, visit www.shoalsec.com.