Oklahoma City Rated 1st in Small Business Startups

Oklahoma City gets the top spot in the country when it comes to starting a business according to <em>Fortune</em>'s small business magazine. Some agree that OKC is the right place to open up shop.

Friday, October 16th 2009, 6:32 pm

By: News 9


By Jacqueline Sit, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Oklahoma City gets the top spot in the country when it comes to starting a business according to Fortune's small business magazine. Some agree that OKC is the right place to open up shop.

Mariah Box and Alice Murphy are brewing up big business in a corner cafe. The First Edition is only three months young, but it's already a hit with their healthy menu.

"We've been pretty busy," said Box. "Business has been picking up for us so that's good."

The ladies say they're learning a lesson every day in being new business owners.

"It's very challenging," said Box. "It's really rewarding, but definitely challenging, especially considering it's just Alice and I because we can't afford to hire labor just yet."

They're a small statistic in landing Oklahoma City on the top spot for entrepreneurs looking to start a business, but rave reviews for the metro thanks to Fortune small business magazine. The reasons are many: low taxes, low foreclosure rate and low rent average.

"We do still face a little bit of an image hurdle," said Cynthia Reid of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce. "We're in a flyover state. We're in the part of the county where people may overlook what our advantages are and so having these third party endorsements is extremely important and really helps to show the rest of the world we have something going on here."

Another plus to keep these business partners cooking in the metro is the affordable cost of living.

"The standard of living is pretty good, especially compared to the rest of the country," said Box. "We're pretty lucky that here in Oklahoma, not necessarily recession-proof, but it hasn't hit us as it did for a lot of the other states."

logo

Get The Daily Update!

Be among the first to get breaking news, weather, and general news updates from News 9 delivered right to your inbox!

More Like This

October 16th, 2009

March 22nd, 2024

March 14th, 2024

February 9th, 2024

Top Headlines

March 28th, 2024

March 28th, 2024

March 28th, 2024

March 28th, 2024