Nine cities in Oakland County have been ranked as best small cities to start a business in by consumer credit research website WalletHub, including one city breaking the top 100.
The study examined 1,261 cities with a population between 25,000 and 100,000 across the nation based on three factors: Business environment, access to resources and business costs. Holland, Mich., took the top spot for 2017 followed by Carbondale, Ill. and Springville, Utah.
Twenty three other Metro Detroit communities also landed on the list, including 11 in Wayne County and 3 in Macomb County.
How Oakland County cities ranked nationally:
• Southfield, 59
• Farmington Hills,164
• Madison Heights, 168
• Troy, 236
• Royal Oak, 330
• Novi, 402
• Oak Park, 469
• Rochester Hills, 637
• Pontiac, 699
WHY SOUTHFIELD?
Southfield, 59th on the national list, is a part of one of 17 Smart Zones in the state with the presence of Automation Alley nearby in Troy and the Lawrence Technological University Collaboratory in the city, a start-up incubator for the region which grew out of the university over the last year and a half, said Rochelle Freeman, business and economic development director for Southfield.
“The university would work with students on campus and they would complete these class projects with really fabulous (business) ideas, but the students would abandon them when they got a new job. So the university brought in a team of people to help commercialize those ideas and we said let’s open this up and see if it would be a good business venture,” Freeman said.
The Collaboratory hosts public events and programs to help potential business owners vet their ideas, find a market and funding opportunities and network with mentors.
Southfield is also home to a Michigan Works! location. The office holds a variety of events on a regular basis for potential business owners from how to start a business to how to market one. The Southfield Public Library also houses a business center on the third floor with access to research and resources and the Southfield Area Chamber of Commerce hosts networking events on the third Thursday of every month.
“Southfield is centrally located and we have a wide array of office spaces available. Someone who needs a small, shared office? We have that. All the way up to high end, class A office space. For someone looking to open we have a lot of opportunities, companies who will provide shared resources for setting up an office, or just start-ups using our library to hold meetings and get togethers,” Freeman said.
Over 10,000 businesses call Southfield home and of those, Freeman said there is a strong balance of start-up technology companies and big name giants like IBM and Microsoft, which also have locations in the city.
WHY FARMINGTON HILLS?
In Farmington Hills, however, it isn’t so much the extra business-focused amenities that are attracting start-ups to the city, said Khalfani Stephens Farmington Hills’ economic development director.
“The reason why businesses are ending up here is because we are a well run and maintained community. We’re good at getting the money out into the streets and not into bureaucracy,” Stephens said. “We have awesome amenities for residents and those entrepreneurs are often residents of wherever their business is. You know how Apple started in a garage? Before they’re entrepreneurs, they’re residents.”
Stephens also stated that Farmington Hills, 164th on the list, works to be a city that is direct and and easy to do business in. Inspectors, planning officials and Stephens himself will often meet with potential business owners for pre-development meetings. Departments such as the fire department and planning department will help walk potential business owners through the requirements on the front-end to avoid issues later down the line.
“We really do everything we can to make sure any business who speaks with us, before they go out expanding and investing, that we’ve laid out for them what things we need to be done,” Stephens said.
