RALEIGH – North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine F. Marshall announced this week she is expanding the agency initiative known as Rural RISE NC (Resources for Innovators, Start-ups, and Entrepreneurs) to more new business owners after a successful pilot phase.
The unique pilot project connects new business creators with mentors, business counselors and funding opportunities, both locally and elsewhere. Rural Rise NC links new businesses to significant free and low-cost resources such as:
A much-requested checklist of crucial steps new business should follow to be successful, such as:
— Important tax and reporting deadlines
— Lenders that focus on small and start-up businesses
— Business counselors for permitting and other questions
— Connections to local service providers who can help identify target markets and develop business plans
In launching Rural RISE NC, the agency focused on analyzing historic business data and surveying North Carolina’s new entrepreneurs around their needs.
“Our data shows that the first three years are the most challenging for new businesses. The sooner we put these entrepreneurs in touch with valuable business resources and funding opportunities, the more likely they will be making good money, creating jobs and supporting their communities,” said Marshall. “With the explosive growth of new business creations over the last 22 months, we took this initiative to help our new rural businesses thrive.”
The Secretary of State’s office saw a record number 178,300 new business creations in 2021, smashing the previous year’s total of 127,000. That’s more than 700 new businesses created each day.
“The Secretary of State’s office was the front door to more than 178,000 new businesses in 2021 entering North Carolina’s entrepreneurial ecosystem,” said Marshall. “Our mission and our challenge is give each of these businesses and the ones created before them every opportunity at being successful.”
Fourteen counties comprised the initial pilot phase, and today’s announcement means Rural Rise NC will focus on expanding these crucial resources into the rest of the 78 counties identified as rural by the NC Rural Center. The Secretary of State’s office is working with local partners to deliver their business support content by e-mail to these new business owners upon creation.
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