Project

ADVANTAGE VALLEY, INC., WEST VIRGINIA

2017 – 2018

Location

Charleston-Huntington, West Virginia

Practice Area

Economic Development and Community Resiliency

Service Area

Entrepreneurship Study, Strategic Plan

ENTREPRENEURSHIP STRATEGY FOR CHARLESTON-HUNTINGTON METRO REGION

Project Overview

Advantage Valley, Inc. is a regional economic development organization that markets and promotes the Charleston – Huntington Metro Region in West Virginia, representing Boone, Cabell, Clay, Kanawha, Lincoln, Logan, Putnam, and Wayne Counties with a combined population of over 590,000. The organization’s mission is to foster and facilitate regional growth and advancement opportunities for businesses, communities, and residents. Advantage Valley’s economic base is primarily composed of small businesses looking for entrepreneurship strategy. Within the region, small business service providers typically hold a reactionary role, responding to new business start-up ideas as they are presented by fledgling entrepreneurs. The region is currently seeing job losses as a result of the coal industry downturn.

Advantage Valley was looking for assistance to gather information on realistic targets for business start-ups and expansions that regional service providers can proactively market, assisting entrepreneurs with entrepreneurship strategy and making informed decisions. They also wanted to decrease the number of small business failures in the region.