Kellene Stockwell Channel 2 News BusinessWeek has named Sparks the top city in Nevada to start a small business.
"We let ‘em know that we are gonna work with them, kind of hold their hands if you will, to get them through the process. And I think they see from what we do what a family friendly place we are, a great place to raise kids, a great place for families," says Sparks Mayor Geno Martini.
According to the analysis conducted by BusinessWeek using demographic and geographic data from ZoomProspector.com, BusinessWeek searched cities across the United States with populations ranging from 20,000 to 200,000 people to compile the list. The rankings were calculated based on 11 factors to measure a city's entrepreneurial climate, including the number of small businesses and startups, the quality of workforce, how many universities are in the community, and measures of innovation such as the number of patents issued and the amount of venture capital invested.
Based on the data, Sparks showed 3.18 startups per 1,000 people and 35 small businesses per 1,000 people which helped catapult the city to the top in Nevada. "BusinessWeek is one of the most respected business publications and this recognition should highlight the economic development efforts in Sparks," said Anatolio Ubalde, CEO and co-founder of ZoomPropsector.com.
(BusinessWeek and the City of Sparks also contributed to this report.)
