In advance of Baton Rouge Entrepreneurship Week, which kicks off Monday, the Baton Rouge Area Chamber this morning released a new report titled “The State of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the Capital Region,” which shows the total number of businesses in the metro area has increased by nearly 27,000 over the past decade.
“However, this growth has not been a smooth rise,” the report notes. “Establishment growth has been extremely volatile through recent years, due primarily to the effects of the recession. After a dramatic increase in 2010, startup creation has slowed considerably in the last few years.”
BRAC notes this has been a trend nationwide, pointing to a Kauffman Foundation report from 2013 that suggests the startup slowdown can be largely attributed to an improved economy and more favorable labor market conditions. In Baton Rouge, BRAC’s report shows the annual rate of new business creation is down 39% since 2009.
“However, even this substantial drop in the entrepreneurial rate meant that over 4,000 new local businesses were started in 2013,” the report says.
The report says the Baton Rouge area boasts a strong network of support organizations and resources for budding entrepreneurs and startups, including the LSU Student Incubator, Louisiana Business & Technology Center incubator and Louisiana Technology Park incubator, which combined provide business consulting and mentoring services to more than 85 local startups and entrepreneurs. And on the education and workforce training front, the report says the number of degrees and certifications in innovation fields—that is, those that directly relate to innovation and entrepreneurship such as engineering, computer science and management—has increased nearly 20% since 2009.
The report also shows that since 2009 the Baton Rouge area has experienced a higher rate of business growth and expansions than peer Southern metros, including Austin, Nashville, Oklahoma City, Richmond and Charleston.
“While the high rates of business creation or destruction, or ‘churn,’ make it very difficult to draw firm conclusions about economic health from raw establishment data,” the report says, “the numbers do seem to point towards a positive trend: of the peer regions listed, the Baton Rouge area has had the highest growth in both total establishments and yearly business expansions since 2009.” See the complete report. —Steve Sanoski
