BENTONVILLE -- Arkansas is home to seven Fortune 500 companies and the eighth could be starting now as a small business, according to the state's new economic development leader.
Mike Preston, the keynote speaker Wednesday at the Bentonville/Bella Vista Chamber of Commerce's Small Business Awards Lunch, said small businesses are essential to the state's job growth. He took over as executive director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission on April 6.
Award winners
The Bentonville/Bella Vista Chamber of Commerce held its inaugural Small Business Awards Lunch on Wednesday at the Bentonville Community Center. The event was held in conjunction with National Small Business Week and included three awards.
• Small Business Person of the Year: Clinton Bell, Quadrivium
• Woman Owned Small Business Person of the Year: Tara Limbird, The Limbird Team
• Emerging Small Business Person of the Year: Nicole Olson, Pure the Salon and Spa
Source: Bentonville/Bella Vista Chamber of Commerce
"We have to make sure we are doing everything, as a government, to get out of the way of business," he said. "We don't want to regulate them to death."
New factories or corporate headquarters grab headlines, but small businesses are responsible for a bulk of job growth, Preston said.
Preston was vice president of government relations for Enterprise Florida, that state's economic development organization, for the past six years and was part of a team that helped the state add 728,000 jobs in four years. He said all but about 100,00 of those jobs were created by small businesses.
"It's up to you guys to decide what is best for your community, your region, and then you tell us at the state level how we can help facilitate that," he said.
Three challenges he identified during his first 30 days on the job are lowering the state's income tax, modernizing the corporate income tax and improving workforce training.
"The good news is we have a great story to tell," he said, referencing the presence of industry leaders such as Walmart and Tyson Foods and the relatively low cost of doing business in the state. He said the state needs to do a better job of telling that story and promoting itself.
He pointed to the Bentonville Film Festival running through Saturday as a great opportunity to show the world what the area has to offer.
Trevor Drinkwater, festival co-founder, said he started coming to Northwest Arkansas 20 years ago and is astonished by the growth in the area.
"Part of what we wanted to do was involve the community and support small businesses here," he said.
The festival's award ceremony on Friday will recognize Tara Limbird, who won the chamber's Woman Owned Small Business Person of the Year award Wednesday. She is with the real estate group The Limbird Team.
NW News on 05/07/2015