October is National Women’s Small Business Month, and a perfect time to celebrate the contributions women make to our economy nationally and right here in the Capital Region. Did you know that 40 percent of all businesses nationally are women-owned?* Those businesses support over 9 million jobs and generate annual revenues of $1.8 trillion.**
To celebrate National Women’s Small Business Month, we asked five women business owners their advice for female entrepreneurs, why they chose to do business in the Capital Region, and their hopes for the regional entrepreneurial ecosystem.
This Quarter’s Cover Story: Building on the Momentum
The Baton Rouge Area’s economic development efforts over the past decade have been nothing short of impressive. For its part, BRAC morphed from a traditional chamber of commerce into a dynamic, regional economic development organization that helped usher in explosive job growth and recession-defying diversification. Yet for an organization as forward-thinking and bold as BRAC is, its home at 564 Laurel Street for the past 50 years had been decidedly drab.
The time has come for a building that will play an instrumental role in driving BRAC’s economic development efforts today and tomorrow. Baton Rouge offers the best of Louisiana and is the state’s economic engine. It is the home of big ideas and open doors, and it demands an iconic, modern business center where visionaries can meet to brainstorm, problem solve, and chart new directions for the regional economy.
That space is finally here, in the form of the new David E. Roberts Center for Economic Development.
Continue reading the feature.
An Inside Look
BRAC held a grand opening celebration for the David E. Roberts Center for Economic Development on October 26. Get an inside look of the building with pictures from before the event started.
Photos by Heather McClelland.
As senior vice president of marketing, Kelly is responsible for the development and execution of BRAC’s marketing communications strategy in support of the organization’s regional economic development efforts.