The Kentucky Chamber has announced a new initiative to examine Kentucky’s entrepreneurial economy and identify opportunities to strengthen entrepreneurship, business growth and job creation across the state.
“Start Here, Grow Here: Strengthening Kentucky’s Entrepreneurial Economy” is a new research initiative led by the Kentucky Chamber Center for Policy and Research. The initiative will include a series of community listening sessions on entrepreneurship and small business development, conducted by the Chamber in partnership with JPMorganChase later this fall. The Center will publish its findings from its independent research and these community listening sessions in a final report next year.
“Kentucky’s long-term economic strength depends on our ability to foster innovation, support entrepreneurship, and ensure businesses have the opportunity to grow and succeed,” said Kentucky Chamber President and CEO Ashli Watts. “While our Commonwealth has made important strides in creating an environment where entrepreneurs can start a business, we have an opportunity to strengthen the ecosystem that helps those businesses scale, create jobs, and build lasting economic prosperity.”
Kentucky Chamber Vice President of Policy Charles Aulls says the initiative will combine research, data analysis and community engagement to better understand Kentucky’s entrepreneurial landscape and identify opportunities to support business growth.
“There is a tremendous amount of opportunity in entrepreneurship in Kentucky,” he stated. “There is a lot of momentum there. There is a lot of good infrastructure there. But we need to figure out how we can ignite this and make Kentucky a stronger entrepreneurial economy.”
By one measure, Kentuckians are among the more entrepreneurial people in the region. The Kauffman Foundation’s rate of entrepreneurship, which tracks the share of the population actively starting new businesses, shows that Kentucky ranks fourth among Southeastern states and 14th nationally.
Despite those strong startup rates, Kentucky ranks 48th nationally in the Economic Innovation Group’s Index of State Dynamism, a measure that considers how frequently companies are created, expand, contract or leave the market. More dynamic economies generally experience greater job growth, innovation, industry diversity and resilience.
Aull said the data suggests Kentucky’s greatest opportunity lies in helping more businesses grow and scale after they launch. “If we are trying to grow more jobs in the state, a lot of that is going to come in the form of entrepreneurship.”
Kentucky Chamber of Commerce