Metro Atlanta county is states newest designated Entrepreneur Friendly community

ATLANTA, June 16, 2006 – Douglas County has joined the state's ranks of 'Entrepreneur Friendly' communities, an official designation indicating the community is developing an environment conducive to small business and entrepreneurs. The metro Atlanta county is the 20th community in the state to earn 'Entrepreneur Friendly' status from the Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD)'s Entrepreneur and Small Business Office. '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. Douglas County also completed a two-day assessment by a review team that identified strategies to implement entrepreneur and small business development programs. Additionally, local entrepreneurs and small business owners were asked to evaluate the county's present environment for small businesses. 'As one of the fastest growing counties in the state, Douglas County has seen significant growth in small business start-ups. These entrepreneurs have had tremendous impact on our community,' stated Kali Boatwright, president of the Douglas County Chamber of Commerce. 'This opportunity for the community at large to collaborate on ways to help businesses run more easily is the least we can do in appreciation of their contribution to our local economy. The Entrepreneur-Friendly initiative enables us to work together to more effectively and efficiently support these current and future Douglas County business owners.' An estimated 90 percent of the combined business licenses of Douglas County and the city of Douglasville are held by small business owners. 'In today's competitive business environment, it's more important than ever to take an active role in cultivating and sustaining our entrepreneurs,' said Chris Clark, chairman of the Georgia Entrepreneur and Small Business Coordinating Network and GDEcD's deputy commissioner of Global Commerce. 'Douglas County has the vision necessary to grow its economic base using this proactive strategy to ensure that its entrepreneurs and small business have the infrastructure and resources they need to grow.' 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.