Marathon County, Wisconsin, is rich in amenities and resources, particularly for those who enjoy the great outdoors. With a strong tourism draw, a rich agricultural base, and an economy suited to manufacturing, healthcare, and entrepreneurship, it remains an ideal community to start a business and raise a family.
County-wide, there is a strong sense of community in Marathon County, and stakeholders collaborate to support the strength of the economy and the quality of life it affords, with organizations like MCDEVCO, Inc. leading the way through the facilitation of business development and strategic partnerships. The organization seeks to understand the needs of the business community and responds with carefully curated educational opportunities, the incubation of entrepreneurs and innovation, and financing opportunities that meet the community where it is at.
By continuing to evolve and pivot, shifting gears when necessary to meet the ever-changing needs of the community, MCDEVCO has become an irreplaceable resource and a pillar of the business community.
Knowing when to adapt
Collaboration and cooperation are at the heart of MCDEVCO’s ability to address the diverse needs of the businesses located across the 60 communities of Marathon County. At no time was this more evident than during the pandemic.
“In 2020, it was our duty to rise to the call to action to assist small businesses that were impacted by the pandemic,” says Executive Director Kimm Weber.
In collaboration with the City of Wausau and Marathon County, as well as private investors, MCDEVCO was able to provide funding relief of roughly $750,000 in grants and forgivable loans to small businesses throughout the county that were impacted by the pandemic, which helped see them through the unprecedented challenges of the time.
“We re-shifted our focus as an organization and took on key strategic initiatives to ensure our viability for the long-term,” says Weber. “Just like any small business, we have to be nimble, have to adapt, and have to look at where we can modify to stay relevant—looking at what we are, what do we want to be known for, and how are we showing up for the business community.”
Part of that shifting focus was centered on the strategic partnership the organization established with the Wausau Business Incubator (WBI) in 2021, which saw the move of the GEARS Center co-working space to the same facility. MCDEVCO came on board as a strategic partner to manage tenancy at the facility, which offers office, manufacturing, and kitchen spaces for lease at affordable rates, building up the entrepreneurial community and making it a one-stop shop for new and expanding businesses.
It is a place where entrepreneurs, innovators, remote and freelance workers, independent contractors, tech workers, and small businesses can call home, with access to a state-of-the-art, affordable work environment. There, MCDEVCO serves as a conduit for people to access resources, information, and support that can take businesses from ideation through comprehensive market analyses and business planning to ensure their viability and staying power.
This includes access to funding, as one of the most significant issues facing businesses in Marathon County is the need for improved access to capital. Businesses asked, and MCDEVCO responded.
Focused on funding
While making funding and support readily available was paramount during the pandemic, post-pandemic access to capital remained a challenge for many businesses, especially with elevated interest rates. In direct response to these issues, MCDEVCO has improved access to funding through the existing GAP financing and the creation of an additional funding stream—the micro loan. Businesses have access to GAP financing and a micro loan program designed to offer support at reasonable rates.
“MCDEVCO has always been a GAP financer as administrator of loan funds made available from the City of Wausau, Marathon County and the Judd S. Alexander Foundation, but we decided to show up in a bigger and better way, so we increased the amount we can fund when we’re funding a GAP transaction for a larger project where we’re working with a bank,” explains Weber. “We also created a micro loan program where we are the sole lender for $25,000 or less at three percent interest to startups or existing businesses in Marathon County to give them the push they need to add a product or service at a very affordable rate.”
Clients are further supported by in-house tools that offer budgeting and projection support to improve communications between the clients and lenders, be it MCDEVCO or a financial institution.
From Weber’s perspective, “If we are going to focus on funding, we need to make sure that we have really good products that people want and that financial institutions see as a complement to the services they can offer, but not as competition, because we’re truly here as a partner to everybody.”
MCDEVCO has also been a recipient of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) partner grants for several years running, which support many of its entrepreneurial program efforts, and disbursal of funds on behalf of the Wisconsin Minority Loan Fund to minority-owned businesses in the county. Additionally, based on the understanding that economic decisions impact quality of life, MCDEVCO supports low to moderate-income families in rural Marathon County in the repair of failing septic systems, which is an expensive undertaking that has implications for groundwater quality in the region.
“We are just helping the community grow and prosper and acting as a partner to a lot of the awesome initiatives within Marathon County. That’s what we’re going to continue to do, and we’re going to continue to listen and show up where we need to and adapt as appropriate, based on the needs of the community,” says Weber of the organization’s work and future trajectory.
Incubating business and community
As a community resource, MCDEVCO helps to incubate ideas and entrepreneurs through the provision of countless resources and workshops that empower local businesses with the tools, mentorship, and business acumen necessary for success—because when local businesses thrive, so too does the community.
“We love entrepreneurs and small business owners because we love the community that we serve,” says Weber. “When they grow in a community, there’s a sense that they’re grateful for the opportunity and want to give back. They join boards, they become philanthropic, the threads of their family just continue to weave through the community and build this sense of pride, and we want to foster that,” she explains.
With the momentum of its clients behind it, MCDEVCO is excited about the growth potential of Marathon County. With new projects and partnerships in the works, the energy is palpable—a testament to the work of this team and its many partners. “The organization will continue to listen, adapt, and pivot to address the ever-changing needs of the many communities that represent Marathon County,” Weber says.
While MCDEVCO spearheads many programs and initiatives that take place in Marathon County, more important than anything is that it is an economic hub where people and ideas can come to life for the benefit of the economy and the wider community—where business development is facilitated through education, incubation, financing, and of course, collaboration.
