Entrepreneurship: Arkansas Is Fertile Soil For Growing Businesses
It should come as no surprise that the third least expensive state in which to start a new business is getting a jump on the competition when it comes to entrepreneurship.
Don’t just take our word for it. Listen to what the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation had to say about Arkansas in the organization’s State Report on Early-Stage Entrepreneurship in the United States. According to the Kauffman report, Arkansas has the highest opportunity share for new entrepreneurs, which is a measurement of the “percentage of new entrepreneurs who created a business out of choice instead of necessity.”
Kauffman’s 2023 report showed that Arkansas has a 93.1% opportunity share for entrepreneurs. To put that into perspective, the median opportunity share in the U.S. is just 79.1%.
What does this all mean? It means that Arkansas is beating out all other states when it comes to attracting and developing entrepreneurs who start new businesses. An “opportunity entrepreneur,” according to Kauffman, is someone who is “coming out of wage and salary work, school or other labor market status.” In other words, these are folks who are choosing to become an entrepreneur rather than starting a business because they suddenly found themselves unemployed.
“In Arkansas, we want to keep growing the number of entrepreneurs who are creating new businesses and employing Arkansans,” said Bob Kucheravy, who leads science and technology initiatives for the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Development Division of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission. “Having an innovative, pro-business climate with a strong talent pool and wide range of resources will help Arkansas continue to lead in opportunity share for entrepreneurs.”
According to Kauffman, the number of opportunity entrepreneurs reveals the “influence of economic conditions on overall business creation.” The opportunity share metric is one of four early-stage measures of entrepreneurial activity that Kauffman uses in its report.
A State of Rapid Risers
Another metric that site selectors may want to use is the INC. 5000 list of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies. Arkansas has 19 of them, led by No. 43 Team GO Ventures, a Bentonville advertising firm that has experienced an astounding 6,271% growth rate over the last three years. Engineering firm Telex in Fayetteville comes in at No. 171 in the country and has grown by 2,232%. Other fast risers in Arkansas include STAT Recovery Services (905%), Legacy Retail (463%) and Elite Exteriors Roofing and Restoration (366%).
The 19 high-growth firms in Arkansas come from all over the state. They hail from places like Little Rock, Fayetteville, Rogers, Hot Springs, Bentonville and Lowell. They also represent diverse industry sectors, including food and beverage, telecommunications, health services, software, engineering, advertising and insurance.
Source: Ewing Marion Kauffman
Foundation State Report on Early-Stage
Entrepreneurship in the United States
Team GO was founded in 2019 and rose from No. 113 on the INC. 500 list last year. Team GO’s meteoric rise as INC.’s No. 1 social commerce agency of 2024 led Market Performance Group to acquire Team GO on September 9 of this year.
Team GO Founder and CEO Oliver Bogner called this a huge win for his team: “TikTok Shop is the fastest-growing e-commerce platform in the world, and it’s time to take it as seriously as Amazon. Our mission continues to be focused on helping brands scale and drive revenue, turning on the power of a social commerce-enabled digital strategy. Joining MPG allows us to deliver our specialized social commerce expertise, while leveraging MPG’s broader omnichannel capabilities to provide even greater value to clients.”
For more information on how to launch a new business in Arkansas, go to arkansasedc.com/business-resources/small-business-entrepreneurship-development or call the Arkansas Economic Development Commission at 1-800-ARKANSAS.
