Henry County is Designated “Entrepreneur Friendly” Community

ATLANTA, January 13, 2006—Metro Atlanta's Henry 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. Henry County is the 15th 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. Henry 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 Henry County's present environment for small businesses.

'Having the 'Entrepreneur Friendly' community designation will portray our county as a place where business, government and community leaders are dedicated to developing the entrepreneurial spirit we know is rooted within our community,' said Bruce Dickerson, chair of the Henry County Chamber of Commerce's Small Business Council.

'Earning this distinguished designation will say to entrepreneurs – both those who are already in business in Henry County and those thinking about locating here – that our community offers the business environment needed to grow a successful business,' said Greg Hammonds, board chair of Henry County's Chamber of Commerce. 'Our overall goal is to create and retain quality jobs and investments in Henry County.'

Most of the approximately 9,150 business licenses issued by Henry County have been to small businesses.

'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.'

'We applaud Henry County for giving its small business community this platform to grow and thrive,' added Chris Clark, chairman of the Georgia Entrepreneur and Small Business Coordinating Network and GDEcD's deputy commissioner of Global Commerce. 'By adopting this important strategy for economic development, Henry County is recognizing the importance of entrepreneur and small business growth to its future economic success.'

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.