Entrepreneur Friendly designation to boost small businesses in Troup County

ATLANTA, September 28, 2006 - Troup County has joined the fast-growing ranks of the state's 'Entrepreneur Friendly' communities, an official designation that means a community is strategically developing an environment that welcomes small business and entrepreneurs. The west-central Georgia county is the 26th community in the state and the eighth since May to earn 'Entrepreneur Friendly' status from the Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD)'s Entrepreneur and Small Business Office. Muscogee County, also located in the region, was awarded the designation in July and several other west-central Georgia counties are in the process of being certified. 'Encouraging and supporting our homegrown businesses and entrepreneurs will help create quality jobs for Georgians,' said Governor Sonny Perdue. 'By helping local communities support the growth of small business, we ensure prosperity and opportunity throughout the state.' An 'Entrepreneur-Friendly' community must complete a program instituting guidelines and strategies that build a local environment and culture to support entrepreneur and small business development. Troup County also completed full-day assessment by a review team that identified strategies to implement entrepreneur and small business development programs. Additionally, county leaders asked local entrepreneurs and small business owners to evaluate Troup County's present environment for small businesses. 'The LaGrange-Troup County Chamber of Commerce Small Business Committee has worked on our Entrepreneur Friendly designation for over a year,' said Tiffany Payne, business development manager with the LaGrange-Troup County Chamber of Commerce. 'We did one-on-one interviews with small businesses and compiled information to help us determine our best course of action to help every small business be successful in Troup County. We have added a 'Welcome Small Business' link to our Chamber website and will continue to implement new resources for our small businesses.' According to the Georgia Department of Labor, 2382, or nearly 90 percent, of Troup County's 2664 businesses have fewer than 19 employees. The recently-announced Kia plant, which is scheduled to begin operating in Troup County in 2009, is expected to attract many more small businesses to supply services to the more than 2,500 workers Kia will employ. 'Troup County has been proactive in sustaining its small businesses for years, and this program gives them even more ways to do that,' added Chris Clark, chairman of the Georgia Entrepreneur and Small Business Coordinating Network and GDEcD's deputy commissioner of Global Commerce. 'The Entrepreneur Friendly designation will help the county to prepare for the influx of small businesses we expect the new Kia plant to generate in the years to come.' The Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD) is the state's sales and marketing arm, the lead agency for attracting new business investment, encouraging the expansion of existing industry and small businesses, locating new markets for Georgia products, attracting tourists to Georgia, and promoting the state as a location for film, video and music projects, as well as planning and mobilizing state resources for economic development. For more information, visit www.georgia.org.