Middle Georgias Houston County is Designated Entrepreneur Friendly Community
ATLANTA, January 6, 2006—Houston 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. Houston County is the 14th community in the state to earn 'entrepreneur-friendly' status from the Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD)'s Entrepreneur and Small Business Office. "As a native of Houston County, I know it is a great place to live, raise a family and grow a small business. Houston County is an excellent example of a Georgia community that embraces the entrepreneurial spirit to encourage economic development," said Governor Sonny Perdue. 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. Houston County also completed a two-day assessment by a review team that identified strategies to implement entrepreneur and small business development programs. Additionally, county leaders asked local entrepreneurs to evaluate Houston County's present environment for small businesses. 'The Perry Area Chamber's Business Development Committee is thrilled with the news and tremendously pleased with the outcome,' said Bob Largent, Committee Chair. 'It's been a true team effort, with the entire chamber and the greater Perry and Houston County business community working together. 'We knew we had an entrepreneur-friendly community, but the data collected, the business survey results and the in-depth evaluation process validated that. In short, Perry and Houston County are extremely well-prepared for and provide outstanding support for new entrepreneurial businesses. The future is very bright for business in Perry!' Largent added that the evaluation process helped the chamber identify several directions and strategies to make the business community even more welcoming for entrepreneurs. One such effort will be a full-service Entrepreneurial Resource Center, a 'one-stop-shop' location for prospective entrepreneurial business owners to learn about Perry and Houston County's assets. Over 90 percent of the businesses who received more than 614 licenses from the City of Perry in 2005 have fewer than 20 employees. In Georgia, 95 percent of all businesses employee fewer than 50 people, and 50 percent employ fewer than five people. Nationally, entrepreneurs represent 99 percent of all American employers, creating over three-quarters of all new American jobs each year. 'Local economies benefit when they include strategies to encourage and nurture their small businesses and entrepreneurs," said GDEcD Commissioner Craig Lesser. "The entrepreneur-friendly program raises awareness of the issue and helps communities fully integrate these businesses into their plans for growth.' Houston County has taken a proactive approach to sustaining its many and diverse small businesses,' added Chris Clark, chairman of the Georgia Entrepreneur and Small Business Coordinating Network and GDEcD's deputy commissioner of Global Commerce. 'We congratulate the community for taking the steps necessary to ensure its small businesses will thrive and thus play an active part in Houston County's entrepreneurial and small business growth.' 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.