GAINESVILLE - "How to foster the growth of small businesses in Northeast Georgia?" is the topic that will be explored at a two-day workshop early next year.
Sponsored by the Mountain Entrepreneur Support Organization (MESO), it's expected to bring together local business and government leaders.
J.C. Smith, business consultant with the University of Georgia Small Business Development Center in Gainesville, appearing on Sunday's Northeast Georgia This Week on WDUN NEWS TALK 550, said that 80-85% of the commerce taking place in a community comes from small business.
"The drug store, the dry cleaners, the hardware store - smaller businesses."
Smith said it's not that local government and business leaders are not paying attention to small business "just not as much as we'd like them to."
"So many times an industrial development authority or a county commission will fall in love with bringing a 300-job plant into the county."
MESO is a consortium of federal, state and local agencies that deal with various aspects of economic development.
The two-day meeting will be held in February in Helen at Unicoi Lodge.
Sunday
January 12th, 2025
8:05AM
