NFIB/Alabama State Director Rosemary Elebash will chair a new state small-business commission announced by Gov. Robert Bentley on Sept. 15.
“Alabama’s continued economic progress depends on the prosperity of our small businesses,” Bentley said. “The creation of the Alabama Small Business Commission will encourage innovation, discuss issues critical to economic growth of small business and promote policies to assist new business start-ups and expansion of existing businesses.”
The Alabama Small Business Commission, created by
Executive Order 47, will serve as an advisory body in formulating policies, encouraging innovation, and discussing issues critical to the economic growth of small businesses. It will promote policies to assist new business start-ups and the expansion of existing businesses.
The commission will be comprised of Alabama-based small and independent business owners who will serve a two-year term with the option of a two-year reappointment. For the purposes of this commission, the definition of a small business will be 50 or fewer employees. Governor Bentley also created the Alabama Small Business Advisory Committee to provide technical and informational resources to the commission.
Elebash said, “On behalf of Alabama’s small business owners, I wanted to thank Governor Bentley for recognizing the need to establish a commission dedicated to helping independently owned and family businesses.
“The goal of the commission will be to create a business environment that allows the creation of new businesses and the opportunity for existing businesses to expand,” she said. “Commission members will be uniquely qualified to serve and represent Alabama’s small businesses in all 67 counties because many of them will have started a business on a shoestring and built a business successfully out of virtually nothing.
“Alabama’s small businesses have a special way of life because of their commitment to their local community, the dedication to their employees and to their passion for creating new jobs,” she said.
The first meeting of the Alabama Small Business Commission will be in October, and the commission will present an annual report to the governor at the end of each calendar year beginning December 2015.
