Think Big opens new small business incubator center with goal to help entrepreneurs flourish in Rockford

By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — A nonprofit small business incubator that works to help women- and minority-owned entrepreneurs flourish celebrated the opening Friday of its new home on the city’s North End.

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, Mayor Tom McNamara and other local leaders celebrated the ribbon cutting on the new Think Big Minority Business Accelerator at the Provenzano Center, which fills the former Jerome Interiors furniture building at 1311 N. Main St. across from The Norwegian.

Sheila Hill and Duntai Mathews co-founded Think Big to provide technical assistance, training, workshops and other business development services to entrepreneurs and small business owners. The center’s focus is on minority-, women- and veteran-owned businesses but it is open to all.

The center will also have co-working space, offices and conference rooms for lease, a podcast studio, and event space for business related activities.

“This building right here is going to be very active. There’s going to be a lot of things going on at one time,” Mathews said. “There’s going to be art, there’s going to be music, it’s going to be co-working space, it’s going to be flex space.”

Both Hill and Mathews have run local businesses for years. Mathews is the president of DLM Wood Manufacturing, co-owner of Deep-End Productions and vice president of Soar Radio. Hill is the president of Hill Enterprises, a residential and commercial property management company. But both say they faced obstacles when getting their start in business and want to help others avoid the pitfalls and barriers that they learned to overcome.

“Sometimes you go to school and get educated and you still don’t get what you need. You have to live it, you have to experience, you have to walk it, you have to talk it, you have to be around people that have done it,” Mathews said. “We didn’t have that 20-some years ago. We had to get kicked out of banks, get laughed at and lose money to understand what it takes to make money.”

The building was formerly home to Jerome Interiors and then later Fight College boxing and fitness gym and briefly an indoor skatepark. It was also used as storage space for Rocktown Adventures and property management offices for Joseph James Partners. Peter and Heather Provenzano donated the building to the city for the project. A portion of the building was demolished to add space for parking while the rest was renovated for offices and event space.

Renovations cost roughly $2.4 million, with the city providing $1.4 million from its federal stimulus funds and Durbin securing $1 million from congressional directed spending, which are earmarks for federal lawmakers to determine funding priorities in their home state.

The work was led by Kee Solutions, which was the general contractor and also helped mentor six young adults during the project to prepare them for a future in the trades.

“There’s been some changes in Washington in the last six weeks, you may have noticed,” Durbin said. “Some of the efforts that are underway in the SBA to develop minority businesses have been completely abandoned. Completely abandoned. All people working in that area have been fired and the agency has basically been closed when it comes to this.”

Durbin called those cuts a shame, and said supporting women- and minority-owned businesses can benefit the overall economy.

“Given a little extra help there’s some amazing stories of success that come out of it. That help is well invested,” he said. “I hope we get back to that. In the meantime, keep it all local. What you’re doing locally and what I can help you do may still make a big difference in the economy and in the lives of a lot of people, to give them a chance to prove themselves.”

Think Big was founded in 2018, operating initially out of Park Church, where Hill and her husband, Recee, are pastors. It held its first school of business in 2019 and so far it has helped more than 600 individuals, Hill said. Of those, about 250 have gone on to start businesses.

“Think Big is more than just a school, it’s literally a family,” said LaTanya Cross, who owns #TheCrossover Motorsports at 3329 Auburn St. with her husband, Ronnie. “The mentoring, the one-on-one, the resources, when you get frustrated you can definitely call them. …

“I’m so excited for this building because there’s so many more that they are going to reach.”

The first school of business class in the new building will take place in April.

Mathews said that he’s ready for Think Big to live up to its expectations for spurring more business here.

“There’s a lot of eyes on us, we understand that and I love it,” he said. “To me, mostly important is the community of Rockford getting a historic building from historic people with historic relationships where a historic team with a historic board, and we’re going to make history with historic businesses flourishing all over the city of Rockford.”

Contact | Think Big

Where: 1311 N. Main St., Rockford

Online: thinkbig815.org

Facebook: @thinkbig815

Email: info@thinkbig815.org

This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas