It will be an affirmation of a commitment among the city of East Lansing, MSU and the student body, Enliven Software CEO and MSU alumnus Bunmi Akinyemiju said.

“I think (the TIC) is one of the best things that happened to East Lansing in bridging the gap between the university, the community and student entrepreneurs,” Akinyemiju said.

The company will be the first of 14 business to emerge from the incubator, which opened in October 2008. It will have done so in one year, two years before it would have been required to leave, East Lansing Project Manager Jeff Smith said.

“(The city) is excited to see the program working and providing an opportunity for technology-based businesses to grow and expand here in Mid-Michigan,” Smith said. The TIC’s mission is to encourage the development of technology-based businesses in Mid-Michigan by providing affordable office space and services.

Enliven specializes in providing paperless e-invoicing and e-payments products, for small- and medium-sized businesses, according to its profile on accountingsoftware411.com.

One of the ways Akinyemiju said he thinks the city can help him — and itself — is to expand the entrepreneurial opportunities for students.

“There are several students who have entrepreneurial ideas who already started small businesses,” Akinyemiju said. “(Incubators) give them the opportunity to grow with a smaller model. It is my hope that the city and the community can see these as very good things and scale it up three, four, five times as large.”

East Lansing expects to open The Hatch, an incubator for students, later this month at (SCENE) Metrospace, 110 Charles St. It will provide “a creative, co-working environment for prospective student entrepreneurs to develop their business ideas and ventures,” according to East Lansing’s Web site.

Finance senior Joe Brummitt incorporated an online retail delivery company, Spartanicity, in July. He said it would have been helpful to have the kind of resources incubators provide.

“It would have been cool,” Brummitt said. “It’s always good to consult with other businesses and to have mentors we can bounce ideas off of, so we can make sure our business is tailored for our costumers and area residents.”

Providing access to those services sends a clear message to the community, said Barbara Fails, associate director of entrepreneurial communities at MSU’s Land Policy Institute.

“I’m excited because it makes a public statement to the community that we value innovation and new technology,” Fails said.

Support from the East Lansing and MSU communities is one of the main reasons Fails said she feels Enliven and other startups will thrive.

“TIC provides a lot of resources. It helps create social network and companies get a lot of attention from the community and media for their activities,” she said. “They gain access to resources through Smith’s business efforts and support services. They support one another and some of the risk is reduced. It also gives them a chance to share knowledge and resources.”