4 Ways Greensboro Chamber of Commerce Supports Local Small Businesses

April 10, 2025

If you’re a small business owner who’s considering joining the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce, you might be wondering how the Chamber supports businesses like yours. From hosting networking events and helping new companies receive business licenses in Greensboro, NC, to supporting minority-owned businesses and advocating for Greensboro-centric legislation, we do our best to ensure businesses have all the support they need to succeed.
As you consider partnering with the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce, find out more about the four primary ways the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce helps small businesses.

1. Hosting Entrepreneurship and Educational Programs

When you’re planning on starting a new small business or already have a business that you want to improve, you can likely benefit from our Launch entrepreneurship programs. LaunchCamp is a weekend-long training program for entrepreneurs who are introducing new products/services or planning to launch a business. In the program, you’ll learn how to use the Lean Startup approach while creating a framework for growing your business.
LaunchLab 101 is another one of our programs for new business owners. This five-week program (held once a week) covers setting up a corporate and financial structure, developing customer personas, determining whether a business has intellectual property, and creating marketing strategies. Established business owners looking to grow their business can take part in LaunchLab Growth, which is a 14-work program that aims to accelerate your business’s growth. You can also receive advice about receiving business loans in Greensboro if you need more capital to scale.

2. Providing Networking Opportunities

The best business owners know that who they know can be just as important as what they know. Since having a diverse network of fellow business owners and leaders to rely on can be essential to a business’s success, the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce offers multiple networking opportunities to professionals and business leaders in Greensboro. Our most popular network events include Coffee & Conversation, WE Connect, and our new On the Go series. We even offer Networking Bootcamps to help business leaders make stronger connections.
With a wide variety of businesses and leaders attending these events, you can pick their brains for advice and information you’re not familiar with. For example, if you’ve realized you need small business IT support in Greensboro, you can talk with other participants about who they’ve worked with for their IT needs. You might also want to talk about business insurance in Greensboro, NC, or any other topic you’re looking for greater clarity on. Whatever your question, networking events are great ways to get answers!

3. Advocating for Greensboro-Centric Legislative Agendas

We’re proud to advocate for Greensboro small businesses and residents at the NC General Assembly, Greensboro City Council, and other relevant legislative bodies. For example, we supported North Carolina’s $8b 2021 infrastructure investment that aimed to modernize transportation, broadband, sewer, and public education infrastructure in the state. We also supported the 2019 Small Business Healthcare Act and Senate Bill 228 in 2021, which allowed employers to offer EPO Benefits Plans.
Alongside our past accomplishments, we’re currently advocating for the Eastern Triad Workforce, Ready Ready’s development of an Integrated Data System for children’s educational programs, and a variety of other initiatives, partnerships, and programs. If you believe your business could benefit from new legislation, the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce can help walk you through that process and give you additional support if the new program or initiative is implemented.

4. Helping Minority-Owned Businesses Scale

If you operate a minority-owned business in Greensboro, our Scale to Excel program is designed to help your business scale. The cohort-based program provides a business support system, executive education, and management know-how, helping business owners improve their business while making last connections with other entrepreneurs.
While the tuition cost for this program is $10,000, the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce and community partners subsidize the total tuition cost, making the program extremely accessible. Based on 2022 Assessment data, businesses that have taken part in the program have seen an average 36% growth rate in revenue, $2,400,000 in new contracts (per firm), and a 4x job creation rate compared to the private sector.

Join the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce

Due to the many ways we support many local Greensboro small businesses, we’re confident we can help you reach your goals. Whether you’re looking for entrepreneurship classes, advocacy for your business, minority-owned business assistance, or networking opportunities, we have a program or event for you. If you have an idea about how the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce could better serve businesses in the area, we’re always looking for ways to improve our efforts, and we’ll be happy to speak with you.
Learn more about our entrepreneurship programs and how to join the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce today.

If you have any questions about the ways we can help you improve your marketing efforts, please contact us.

How to Start a Business in North Carolina

January 31, 2025

If you’d like to start a business in North Carolina, it can be overwhelming to think about, especially if you’re not even sure what type of business you want to start. Once you know what steps to follow, however, starting a business in North Carolina isn’t all that difficult, with the state very friendly to entrepreneurs (NC has a 2.5% corporate tax rate, the lowest in the country!).

Whether you’re looking for a new business idea or want to know what you should do to launch your business, review our guide to starting a business in North Carolina.

What Is a Good Business to Start in North Carolina?

Small business entrepreneurs have lots of exciting opportunities in North Carolina. If you’re still trying to decide what your business should do, review the following business types that are perfect for entrepreneurs early in their careers:

Moving Company
Professional Services (e.g., doctors, architects, engineers, dentists, geologists, and social workers can all start a Professional Limited Liability Company).
Bed & Breakfast
Recruiting Agency
Virtual Assistant Business

Regardless of the type of business you start, you’ll be in the right state to do it, as CNBC has named North Carolina one of the top three states to do business in for five years straight.

Do You Need a Business Plan to Start a Business in North Carolina?

Small business entrepreneurs need a business plan before they launch their company in North Carolina. This type of plan will give your business a direction to follow, guiding your business’s growth and helping you meet challenges. A detailed business plan should include the following information:

The product or service your business plans to offer
The amount of funding you have, where that funding is coming from, and how much it’ll cost to launch and run your business
Your business’s primary competitors
The target audience of your business and how large that audience is

Does a New Business in North Carolina Need a Business Name?

Before you register your business, you need a name for it. The best business names will let customers know what your business does while also being unique enough that the name doesn’t get lost in the crowd. You’ll also want to look up competitor names to get a sense of naming conventions in your industry and how professional-sounding your business’s name needs to be.

Once you have a name, you need to do a business name search to make sure someone else doesn’t already have the same name. You can conduct your search here.

Where Can You Receive Funding From a New Business?

If you have enough personal savings to launch your business and fund operations for a stretch of time, you’ll likely want to stick to those funds so that you can retain full ownership and control of your business. However, most small business entrepreneurs will need funding from outside sources. Besides personal funds, you can receive funding from the following sources:

Family and Friends
Small Business Loans
Outside Investors (e.g., other entrepreneurs and venture capitalists)

How to Register a Business in North Carolina

Once you’ve decided on a small business idea, have a name, and know your funding sources, it’s time to register it. During registration, you’ll need to decide whether your business is a Sole Proprietorship, Limited Liability Company (LLC), a C corporation, a Nonprofit, or a Doing Business As (DBA). Each option has different benefits and requirements, so do your research first and talk to other business owners before deciding.

Next, you’ll officially register the business with the North Carolina Secretary of State. When you register your business, you’ll need to file paperwork that contains information about basic business details, the business’s name, and the registered agent.

How to Start a Business in North Carolina After You Finish Registering

Once you’ve finished registering your business, you’ll need to follow the rest of North Carolina’s requirements for launching a business. Based on nc.gov’s page on starting a business, new businesses must do the following after registering:

Obtain necessary licenses and permits
If applicable, apply for sales and use tax number
Apply for an Employer Identification Number
Prepare for any applicable taxes
Obtain insurance
Comply with regulations (E.g., OSHA, ADA, and Environmental Regulations)
Arrange for business financing
Open a business bank account
Protect your business’s intellectual property

What Should You Do After You’ve Launched Your Business?

Once you’ve launched your business and have started its operations, one of the best ways you can continue to improve is by working with your local Chamber of Commerce. For instance, the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce is dedicated to serving small business entrepreneurs in Greensboro, NC. Some of the ways the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce helps business owners include:

Join the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce

Launching a business is incredibly rewarding, but it can also be stressful if you do it alone. The Greensboro Chamber of Commerce understands the pressures on small business entrepreneurs, and we have a lot of resources to help. Whether you’re interested in taking a small business class or are looking for entrepreneurs near you in Greensboro to network with, we have you covered.

Learn more about our entrepreneurship programs and other entrepreneurship resources today. If you have any questions, you can call us at (336) 387-8301.