Press Release
U.S. EDA Promotes Development of Small Entrepreneurial Firms in South Carolina
August 31, 2010
Contact: John Atwood, (202) 482-4085
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Commerce Department's Economic Development Administration (EDA) today announced a $27,099 grant to a consortium lead by the South Carolina Council of Competitiveness of Columbia, S.C., to promote the growth of entrepreneurial firms in South Carolina.
"Promoting innovation and providing entrepreneurs and small businesses with the opportunity to grow is vital to our nation's economic competitiveness," said U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development John Fernandez. "This EDA grant will work to capture feedback from entrepreneurship-related service providers and to incorporate that input into regional and statewide action plans."
"This project is focused solely on creating more robust regional and state networks that are designed to increase the number of high growth start-up firms and other South Carolina-based firms in the entrepreneurship pipeline," said George Fletcher, Executive Director of the South Carolina Council of Competitiveness.
The project's scope of work covers six deliverables: generate market research on South Carolina's high growth entrepreneurial firms; develop an inventory of South Carolina's entrepreneurship-related service providers; develop an action plan for enhancing regional entrepreneurship-related networks; develop an action plan for enhancing the statewide entrepreneurship-related network; design and upgrade New Carolina's entrepreneurship website; and develop a plan for sustaining a state entrepreneurship initiative.
About the U.S. Economic Development Administration (www.eda.gov): This year, the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) marks 45 years of public service, with a mission of leading the federal economic development agenda by promoting competitiveness and preparing American regions for growth and success in the worldwide economy. EDA is an agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce that partners with distressed communities throughout the United States to foster job creation, collaboration and innovation.