County acquires business center, launches program
Pulaski County has a new program focusing on providing assistance and support to small businesses and local entrepreneurs looking to start or grow a business.
The rollout of the small business development program coincides with the county acquiring New River Valley Business Center, a mixed-use business incubator developed on Viscoe Road in Fairlawn in 1983. The county recently received ownership of the facility from New River Valley Development Corporation.
County Administrator Jonathan Sweet said the new program is operating out of the former incubator, which will be renamed “Pulaski County Innovation Center.”
“Small business development has been a priority of the EDA (Economic Development Authority) ever since we transitioned from an Industrial Development Authority in April of 2018, and broadened our focus to include small business and entrepreneurial support services, tourism and marketing, workforce development, community engagement, retail and commercial development, economic diversification and residential development,” said Jon Wyatt, EDA chair. “It is exciting to see the EDA’s business plan reaching its goals of supporting small businesses with professional services, having a new tourism department in place to market the county, and to be aggressively advancing many of the EDA’s other strategic targets during these challenging times.”
