Loudoun Economic Development announces initiative to support entrepreneurs

“We think this is going to be transformative for our community,” Buddy Rizer, the county’s economic development director, said at a May 1 press conference in Ashburn, which was attended by several county supervisors. Rizer said that many entrepreneurs and small business owners are focused on perfecting their actual product or service while they may not have all the resources they need to apply for financing or market their business successfully.

Supporting “foundational elements” of a new business — finance, legal, human resources and workforce, sales and marketing and leadership and ownership — will be the focus of Launch Loudoun, Rizer said. These are often areas outside the core product of a business, Rizer said, but often make or break the success of a startup.

The centerpiece of the program is a new website, launchloudoun.com, that consolidates a host of Loudoun-specific resources for small businesses — there’s information on everything from creating a business plan to applying for a loan to finding local office space. The department will also facilitate “large-scale events, targeted programs, partner counseling, and personalized 1-on-1 services with industry specialists.”

A sold-out “Loudoun Small Business Summit” took place May 2, and Rizer said more entrepreneur-focused events are in the works.

Rizer said that there will be a particular emphasis on ensuring resources are accessible to the gamut of people trying to get their business off the ground; advisory meetings will be held in libraries across the county, for instance. There will also be a focus on providing resources relevant to the cultural and linguistic diversity of the county. For any entrepreneur, Rizer said, “Our goal is to be responsible and reach out in a proactive way to make sure that they have what they need to survive.”

Supervisor Kristen Umstattd, D-Leesburg, pointed to several residents of her district who had come to Loudoun as immigrants or refugees and built successful businesses from practically nothing. “This is the spirit of Loudoun County,” she said.

There are 11,000 businesses in Loudoun County with fewer than 10 employees, according to the Virginia Employment Commission. One in eight people employed in the county work at one of those companies.