The Culpeper Business Blog

Published in the Culpeper Times,
Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Attention Entrepreneurs!!! We are living in one of the greatest times in history for entrepreneurship. The Commonwealth of Virginia is considered “one of the best States to do business” by several recent rankings, including Forbes.com and CNBC. Governor Bob McDonnell has named 2012 as the Year of the Entrepreneur in Virginia. Thus, the table is set for you to develop a business idea with resources tailored for your success.

Whether you have an idea for a new startup or whether you are interested in growing your business, there is a well-established free resource for you to plug in and energize your business interest. The Virginia Department of Business Assistance (VirginiaDBA), established in 1996 for just this purpose, is ready to serve in developing your opportunities. The VirginiaDBA website is a key resource for entrepreneurs www.DBA.Virginia.Gov. There are over 100 seminars held in the region and around the Commonwealth each year that are launching points for improving your success. The VirginiaDBA partners with Chambers of Commerce, Community Colleges, and other Economic Development agencies to deliver the programs to Virginia businesses. Upcoming events are listed on www.vastartup.org

I spoke with the Director of VirginiaDBA, Peter Su, recently about current strategies for business growth and job retention. He described a few of the latest deployments as well as offering a glimpse of some very exciting things to come. First, VirginiaDBA maintains the new Virginia Business One Stop that was launched by Governor McDonnell in late 2010. The site, http://BOS.Virginia.Gov facilitates the business formation process and has had over 162,000 unique visitors each year since the deployment. The volume of visitors is a significant signal that this is a very useful resource for Virginia Business. And as a result, several other states have called to get advice on how to improve their one-stop service.

Second, the VirginiaDBA has just released the Small Business Resource Guide. The guide can be downloaded online or a hard copy can be obtained by calling (804) 371-0438.  The guide is especially helpful since it was the result of a successful Public / Private partnership. “Input from business experts in the private sector is critical to the success of this publication” said Mr. Su. There have been over 166,000 downloads of the guide in just two months. I was especially impressed that the guide is also available for download formatted for the Ipad through Itunes. This makes it especially accessible for anyone with an Itunes account and appeals to the young entrepreneur and seasoned professional alike.

In order to keep pace with the contemporary business needs, Mr. Su offered insight into a very interesting project that will be deployed in the near future. VirginiaDBA will launch a collaborative online community on www.vastartup.org The emphasis is to cultivate a real time environment for business professionals to interact with each other while sharing lessons learned with fellow entrepreneurs. “The intent is to build a community knowledge base of best practices” said Mr. Su.

In addition, Governor McDonnell recently signed a legislation that will allow VirginiaDBA to work closely with small business to help with financing and startup costs. The details of the Small Business Investment Grant and the Microloan program are forthcoming and will be another powerful tool in encouraging business investments in Virginia.

Finally, Mr. Su pointed out that the VirginiaDBA has begun to post video links of some of the programs delivered to Virginia business audiences. This is strategic for businesses that cannot attend a function and would like the benefit of the information. For example, Virginia DBA recently hosted The Annual Business Appreciation Week with a cast of excellent speakers. Three of the speakers’ comments were captured on video and can be found at the following link - http://www.vdba.virginia.gov/baw2012/video.



VirginiaDBA continues to lead the Commonwealth in cultivating entrepreneurs and supporting existing business in new and meaningful ways. With the resources of VEDP and VirginiaDBA, Virginia is positioned to help business both large and small.  The resources are at your finger tips. From ideas to jobs, Virginia is the right place to be. Timing can be everything, explore your opportunities today.

Jim Charapich, President/CEO
Culpeper Chamber of Commerce