CHARLESTON, WV. – The state of West Virginia now has a total of 155,442 registered businesses that are active and registered in the Mountain State. According to a news release from WV Secretary of State Mac Warner, that’s the highest number of registered businesses ever recorded in West Virginia.
Warner attributes the state’s business growth, in part, to the increased ease and convenience of opening a new business in West Virginia. Warner said that his office worked with the Legislature to: (1) modernize the WVSOS Business & Licensing Division; (2) create the WV One Stop Business Center and online portal; and (3) establish regional offices in Clarksburg and Martinsburg. The process that used to routinely take more than two weeks to register and open a new business in West Virginia can now take less than two hours.
“West Virginians have long been innovators, and our office is innovating for them with enhanced customer tools that help to welcome new businesses and getting them properly registered,” Warner said. “We’ve moving at the speed of business in an effort to help entrepreneurs and business owners get open for business. Just last week, our office registered West Virginia’s first business onsite at an entrepreneurship conference and launched our AI-powered chat bot to help answer citizens’ business questions 24/7.”
More information about the Secretary of State’s Office is at business4.wv.gov.
National Small Business Week was celebrated from April 30 to May 6. To learn more about National Small Business Week and the services and programs provided by the SBA, see sba.gov.
