Blue Ridge Crossroads: Best place to start a business in the U.S.?

Submitted by acohill on Wed, 10/01/2008 - 16:32

The Blue Ridge Crossroads region in southwest Virginia may be the best place to start a business in the United States, if the results they rolled out this week are any indication. Three years ago, the region's leaders started an aggressive program to diversify their economic development strategy to include more focus on entrepreneurs and business start ups.

In less than three years, Carroll and Grayson counties and the City of Galax (the three local governments that comprise the Blue Ridge Crossroads region) have helped start 85 new businesses. Those businesses have created 391 new jobs, and there has been more than $19 million in direct capital investment, with an estimated total economic impact of nearly $80 million.

The EDA is building a regional high speed fiber and wireless network that will eventually provide service to every home and business in the region, so that entrepreneurs can start businesses from home and have access to high performance, business class telecom services, including VoIP phone service and Internet access. In 2009, as part of that effort, fiber will be installed at the three existing business parks in the region.

The EDA is also building a major new business park close to two of the busiest interstates on the East Coast (the intersection of I-81 and I-77), and planning is already underway to have fiber and wireless services at that location.

A key success factor in spurring new business development has been Crossroads Institute, which took an old, empty big box building and converted it to a world class business incubation and higher education facility. The facility is home to dozens of public and private entities, and the availability of high speed Internet access has been important for attracting jobs and businesses.