20 Best Cities For Small Business

The Research Triangle area, composed of Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill, North Carolina, is setting its sights on 1999. That's when a new arena will begin to host the North Carolina State University basketball team and the transplanted Hartford Whalers (now the Carolina Hurricanes) NHL team. Two museums and a performing arts center will come to life, and the World Special Olympics and the United States Golf Association Open tournament will arrive in nearby Pinehurst.

But small businesses aren't waiting until then to cash in on this area's explosive opportunities. Clinical research, telecommunications, biomedicine and software are perennial growth industries that make this one of the country's most active business communities.

Although venture capital investment has picked up, there's room for improvement, and local officials have taken the mountain to Mohammed by venturing into Boston and the Silicon Valley to woo investors. The state government has also gotten into the act by increasing pension investments in venture capital from $30 million to $100 million.

A number of employment initiatives, including the Durham Work Force Partnership and Marriott Pathways to Independence, may provide needed relief for the employee shortage in nonskilled jobs. And bonds have been approved to finance new schools and road improvements. But change will not happen overnight. Consequently, some economic developers are looking into the future and encouraging new businesses to locate in nearby communities--rather than directly in the Triangle--to alleviate congestion.

This article was originally published in the October 1997 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: 20 Best Cities For Small Business.