elen Zagaro has a short commute to work. In fact, she can roll out of bed in her Islip home and make the trip to her garage-turned-office in a matter of seconds. But despite the convenience, Zagaro’s garage is a less-than-ideal headquarters for her promotional items company, Star Promoz, to grow. That’s where the Smart Business Exchange incubator comes in.

At first glance, it resembles any office along Ronkonkoma’s corporate corridor. But to Zagaro and other fledgling entrepreneurs, the incubator provides a chance to get out of makeshift home offices and into a professional business environment.

A project of the Long Island Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the new SBX incubator on Veterans Highway officially opens next week and will accommodate about 15 young ventures, now mostly run out of spare bedrooms, basements and garages.

Funded with a $500,000 grant from the Empire State Development Corp., the SBX offers its members access to a receptionist, a conference room, color copier, office furniture, and even a kitchenette. Members also receive valuable business training through workshops and seminars from veteran professionals.

To qualify for an office at the incubator, a Long Island company must be in business at least two years, have at least one employee other than the owner and prove its financial stability. Rates start at about $360 a month per cubicle. LIHCC Executive Director Maria Morales-Prieto said the incubator would feature a variety of businesses to minimize competition and maximize cooperation.

MORALES-PRIETO	SEN. SKELOS	CRUZ

“We want to bring companies that will complement each other, but not compete,” she said. There are currently close to 20,000 Hispanic businesses on Long Island, according to Morales-Prieto, and the chamber now has more than 300 members, up nearly 50 percent in the last eight months. Although the incubator is mostly marketed to the Hispanic business community, Morales-Prieto said members don’t have to be Hispanic to join. For Zagaro, who was busy this week filling 300 goody bags for an upcoming golf outing, the SBX represents a chance for her company to get out of her brick and cedar-shake ranch. “It offers so much it blew me away,” Zagaro said. “It will definitely raise the bar for my business.”

Graphics designer Janet Cruz, who currently works out of an office in her Holbrook home, is another businesswoman anxious to get into the incubator. A veteran of a real office environment, Cruz used to work for now defunct video game company Acclaim Entertainment in Syosset and Glen Cove. Now out on her own, Cruz would also like to get her business, Expressive NYC, out of her house. “There’s a stigma about home-based businesses,” Cruz said. “The incubator will bring more exposure and take it to the next level.” Morales-Prieto said one of the most important aspects of the SBX is the support that business people will get from networking and sharing ideas with each other.

Besides businesses, the incubator will also have a Youth Entrepreneurship Program, with seminars and workshops geared to educate high school seniors and college students. The incubator is designed as a pass through, not a final destination. There is a two-year limit for SBX members to stay under the warming lights before they must leave the nest. “By the third year they have to be self-sustaining,” Morales-Prieto said. The SBX will conduct periodic progress reviews and assist businesses in enhancing their business plans and prepare presentations to attract potential investors. The grant to start the incubator came was secured with the help of Long Island’s state senate delegation. Senator Dean Skelos, from Rockville Centre, said that “record growth in Hispanic-owned businesses on Long Island and across the state demonstrates the need to support their success, so the local economy and other businesses can benefit.”

David Winzelberg can be reached at david.winzelberg@libn.com.