When it comes to building business, it appears southwestern Indiana is the place to be. According to the Southern Indiana Business Report, three of the top counties for business are located in this area.
While Dubois County was rated number one, Daviess County was not far behind. The SIB Report listed Daviess County as the fourth best place to do business.
“I think it is a wonderful ranking,” said Executive Director for the Daviess County Economic Development Corp. Bob Grewe. “You always want to be rated near the top. It shows a dynamic and robust economic ecosystem to grow things.”
Grewe says the growth of business in Daviess County is, in part, a result of the success of earlier start-ups in the county.
“I like to think it is the result of the success of other people starting businesses here that creates a mindset and examples that others can see,” he said. “There are the stories of how those people started their business and it all helps the population understand that a successful business can be done here. It is not too far out of reach. Those examples are a big part of it.”
Daviess County has many pockets of businesses both large and small. Some are concentrated in and around Washington, others near Odon and hundreds more can be found in the CR 900 E. corridor.
Grewe says there are also some things in place in the county that help entrepreneurs move from idea to action.
“The small business development center, and the available market research information,” he said. “I suspect our lending institutions might be a big part of that. When local business people start looking for capital to turn ideas into realities, the local banks have been willing to listen to them.”
Forbes magazine lists Indiana as the top state for business development.
The SIB report cited information from the altLINE website that uses Census Bureau findings.
It reports the highest concentration in small business in the state is in Dubois County with 29.5 businesses per 1,000 people. Daviess County had 27.7 per 1,000 and Martin County had 21.1 per 1,000 population.
Those numbers left Martin County number 34 in the state for small business. Local leaders were excited about the high ranking for their small county.
“I think that is awesome and it speaks volumes for Martin County. We are a small, rural county that a lot of people describe as the middle of nowhere, but in a sense, we are in the middle of everywhere. It is where U.S. 231 and 50 intersect and there is more traffic on those roads than people realize,” said Martin County Alliance for Economic Growth CEO Jessica Potts. “We may be a passer-by community for some but increasingly people are looking at Martin County and establishing businesses here.”
Potts says people don’t have to look very hard to see businesses setting up shop in Martin County. She points out at least two are popping up on Main Street in Shoals.
“The town has a population of 850 but just recently a new hardware store was announced in the old Queens building. The owner is a Shoals graduate who moved to Indy, did some contract work at Crane and now is looking to open a hardware,” said Potts. “There is also a new Mexican restaurant getting ready to open in downtown Shoals.”
Potts also says that being home to the nation’s second largest Naval base is also helpful in developing business opportunities.
“Crane is a huge workforce in our county,” she said. “It is just a giant element of our county, 60,000 acres in Martin County make up the Crane base. It brings a huge opportunity.”
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