RICHMOND, Ind. – The Wayne County Area Chamber of Commerce hosted its Legislative Series on Friday morning at Forest Hills Country Club, featuring a discussion on small business development and entrepreneurship with officials from the Indiana Economic Development Corporation.
The event included David Watkins, senior vice president of entrepreneurship and small business, who oversees statewide programs supporting startups, capital access and technical assistance. This includes SSBCI funding, manufacturing readiness grants, Elevate Ventures and the Indiana SBDC network.
Watkins and a colleague joined a moderated question-and-answer session focused on entrepreneurship, state support systems and long-term business sustainability.
Watkins said Indiana’s economic strategy includes a strong focus on small business development.
“There’s definitely a lot of rightful focus on our small businesses across the state between what we’re doing to maintain and help those small businesses succeed and also helping people get started and grow,” Watkins said.
In the discussion, Watkins and his colleague pointed to the importance of strong foundations in early-stage companies.
It was also added that small business investment plays a central role in shaping the state’s economic future.
“If we spent a billion dollars on small businesses, like we spent billions of dollars on big businesses all the time, this state would be unrecognized.”
Watkins said the state agency operated relies on partnerships with local and regional organizations to reach entrepreneurs.
“We are not going to be able to serve all of those 600,000 businesses across the state directly,” he said.
He said the state’s approach focuses on addressing gaps in existing services rather than duplicating programs already offered locally.
“We prefer, we call it kind of buff four,” Watkins said. “Buff four, the state support. Buff four, the grant. Buff four, the funding that we got.”
For Wayne County, the discussion highlighted the role of local organizations in connecting businesses with state resources.
The Chamber hosted the event as part of its Legislative Series, which brings together local business leaders and state officials to discuss issues affecting economic development in Wayne County and across Indiana.
