ORLANDO ENTREPRENEURS

WORDS BY KATE DUFFY

© Getty

It’s no fairy-tale that Orlando is now ranked as the nation’s leading center for new business, with industry, ideas and personnel flocking to the area. Tax incentives combined with a pleasant climate and efficient infrastructure all contribute to a perfect recipe for success.

Three decades after Walt Disney established his empire here in 1971, a ripple effect has spread through Orlando, creating an ever-growing entrepreneurial hotspot. Ranked 7th among US cities for its atmosphere for entrepreneurs and small businesses in the National Policy Research Council report, America’s Best Cities & States: The Annual Gold Guide to Leading Rankings, Orlando has also been named the “Number One City for Entrepreneurs” by Entrepreneur Magazine, and the “Major Market of the Year” in Southern Business & Development magazine.

Who are these adventurous visionaries putting Orlando on the entrepreneurial map, and what makes Orlando so appealing? Orlando’s population is made up largely of transplants—folks who came for a visit, fell in love and never returned home, along with many military retirees with healthy pensions eager to begin a second career in a warm climate. In fact, it’s rare to meet a native Floridian in Orlando.

Florida High Tech Corridor Council, Electronic Arts.

With its sunny skies and warm year-round temperatures, Orlando’s weather provides a tropical paradise where the living is easy. This is particularly important for the construction industry, agri and biotech businesses, which have no time for the whim of Mother Nature’s four seasons. In addition to its characteristic weather, Orlando is a perfect spot for families. With affordable housing and a bounty of theme parks and outdoor recreation, families have plenty to do in their down-time.

A strong pro-business environment, with low corporate income taxes, no state personal income tax, plus state and local tax refund programs, creates attractive incentives that also help foster a fertile business climate. Orlando’s economy was built on small businesses. While chains and megacorporations do have footing locally—many were started and continue to flourish here—98% of Florida companies have fewer than 100 employees.

These numbers also hold true for Orlando. Companies such as Electronic Arts, the world’s leading independent developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software, creates top-selling video games at facilities in Metro Orlando, but the area also attracts smaller ventures. Impressed by the spirit of support for local small business, the US Small Business Administration (SBA) selected Orlando as the site for a National Entrepreneur Center (NEC)—one of only two in the country—which opened less than two years ago. “We’re a one-stop shop,” says Debbie Brown, director of the NEC in Orlando. “We provide a host of support for new businesses. In the past 18 months we’ve provided training for more than 18,000 people and facilitated 150 new business starts that have helped retained or create 2,100 jobs.” Quietly Making Noise (QMN), founded by Lisa Beeson, is a start-up mechanical, structural and acoustical engineering firm committed to noise reduction. “Having the National Entrepreneur Center here is an incredible advantage, particularly for women,” says Beeson, who set up a volunteer advisory board through NEC to help entrepreneurs with the issues that start-ups face.

” Tax incentives and initiatives also play a role in making Orlando a hotspot for entrepreneurs. ”

Tax incentives and initiatives also play a role in making Orlando a hotspot for entrepreneurs. State and local government offers attractive incentives to qualifying companies seeking to relocate to the area, as well as incentives for existing local businesses wishing to expand. For example, tax credits are available on wages paid to new employees, on new or improved property, on sales tax paid for building materials to improve property, plus office and warehouse equipment and some industrial equipment and machinery. Specific industry sectors, such as aviation, semiconductor companies, printing and publishing, new and expanding manufacturers, mining, the space industry and defense, are eligible for certain industry tax credits. Many of these were deliberately refined and implemented to help promote business growth and development.

Universal Studios

Orlando has also become a high-tech hub over the past few years, attracting hordes of new ventures to the area. This is due in part to the University of Central Florida’s Technology Incubator, which opened in 1999. The Incubator was recently ranked the number one technology incubator in the country by the National Business Incubator Association (NBIA). The university-driven community partnership provides early-stage technology companies with the enabling tools, training and infrastructure to create financially stable high-growth enterprises.

Disney World not only contributes to the pleasure of Orlando residents; its various theme parks, such as Universal Studios, make an enormous financial investment to the community. This helps grow partnerships that allow new businesses to flourish. The convergence of the technology and entertainment industries has been unprecedented in Orlando because of Disney. Computer programmers and engineers, busy developing the next cutting-edge theme park attractions, are also developing military simulation technology. The US Navy has contracted with Orlando-based i.d.e.a.s at Disney MGM Studios to develop its next-generation interactive trainer, called BattleStations.

Visual Book Productions

Orlando ranks 16th in privately held women-owned businesses and 13th in growth in this category. According to the Center for Women’s Business Research in Washington, DC, the number of women-owned businesses in the Metro Orlando area has increased 23% in the past five years to approximately 42,100 companies, surpassing other US cities of comparable size.

Women-owned companies in Orlando provide more than 46,700 jobs in the community and approximately $10.5 billion in sales each year. “Orlando is a young and vibrant region with strong industry clusters, great business resources and infrastructure,” says Jackie Kelvington, owner of Kelvington Consulting Group, an Orlando- based marketing and public relations firm. “The community has definitely taken steps to see women entrepreneurs succeed by providing a perfect environment that teaches women how to start and grow their business.”

Organizations such as the Ya Ya Network and other women-specific professional and industry groups like the Florida Association of Women Lawyers, Commercial Real Estate Women, Florida Executive Women, National Association of Women Business Owners and Business & Professional Women-Orlando help nurture women-owned businesses in the Orlando area.

According to the Metro Orlando Economic and Development Commission (EDC), what sets Orlando apart from other cities is its keen eye on the larger picture. Start-up companies want their needs to be met as they grow, which means it is crucial to entice other businesses that support new and existing local ventures. “Growing our local economy takes a multi-pronged approach that includes attracting new businesses, retaining local companies and nurturing entrepreneurial enterprises,” says Ray Gilley, President and CEO of the EDC. “Traditional economic development has not done enough to address the growth strategy. At the Metro Orlando EDC, we recognize that every Microsoft, Dell and Procter & Gamble once started as a small company. Our community is working to create an environment where these kinds of visionaries can start and grow their companies.”

Positioning Metro Orlando as a leader in the global economy is essential to the growth potential of local companies. “We are fortunate that the Metro Orlando ‘brand’ is globally recognized,” says Gilley. Sweetening the pot for international ventures is Orlando’s proximity to the coast, its Eastern time-zone and a culturally diverse population. More than 150 international companies, representing approximately 20 countries, have facilities in Metro Orlando. All these factors have been paramount in ensuring that the city’s future has never been so magical.

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