MailChimp CEO Ben Chestnuts
Georgia’s annual ‘Small Business Week’ was kicked off Monday at Midtown’s famous Fox Theatre where economic development professionals and small business owners gathered to celebrate the state’s 2018 ‘Small Business Rock Stars.’
While the Amazon’s and Mercedes-Benz’s of the world may steal headlines, small businesses comprise some 98% of registered companies in the state. The Georgia Department of Economic Development plays a key role in aiding those companies, which according to GDEcD Commissioner Pat Wilson, who spoke at the event, are the “lifeblood of Georgia’s business community.”
Indeed the GDEcD’s small business wing directly helped some 1,800 companies in 2017 across 76 communities across the state.
Four winners were chosen out of 175 nominees, (including InsiderAdvantage & James Magazine) whose diversity in both industry and location are indicative of the range of Georgia’s small business community. Gwinnett’s AKESOgen, Inc., Peach County’s Gottwals Books, Thomas County’s SouthLife Supply Co., and Columbia County’s Strand Clinical Technologies each took home awards as the state’s ‘Rock Star’ businesses for 2018.
The keynote speaker was MailChimp co-founder and CEO Ben Chestnut, a Georgia native who turned his own local small business into an international e-mail marketing powerhouse. Crediting his education to the state’s HOPE Scholarship, Chestnut praised the state’s economic environment for helping his company get off the ground. With success built from helping other small businesses market themselves, few people have a better understanding of what companies need to grow and thrive in 2018 and beyond.
Small business week will continue with company spotlights, conferences, and workshops both at the Capitol and around the state.
