Right to Start Applauds Indiana for Creating a Statewide Office of Entrepreneurship
Kansas City, MO – May 5, 2025 – Right to Start, the national nonprofit organization championing entrepreneurship as a civic priority, today applauded the State of Indiana for creating an Office of Entrepreneurship – a crucial step in supporting entrepreneurs statewide.
Indiana’s new Office of Entrepreneurship was created with the strong support of Governor Mike Braun and overwhelming support in the Legislature, including unanimous support in the Senate. That underscores the unifying quality of entrepreneurship, which benefits everyone.
An office of entrepreneurship ensures that there is a dedicated leader who eats, breathes, and sleeps entrepreneurial issues at the state level. That's vital to streamline processes, cut red tape, and remove other barriers in the way of starting and growing a business.
New and young businesses create virtually all net job growth in America. They are leading indicators of GDP growth, and they increase community wealth and diversify goods and services.
Every new business per 100 people adds nearly $500 to average household income in a county, according to GoDaddy Venture Forward data. Every 1% increase in entrepreneurial activity in a state correlates with a 2% decline in poverty.
Indiana’s Office of Entrepreneurship expands on a growing phenomenon across the United States, as states create offices of entrepreneurship or designate similar entities or officials with lead responsibility for advancing entrepreneurship.
Some offices of entrepreneurship have been created by state policy and legislation; others by executive and department action. Nevada led the way with enactment in July 2023 of the nation’s first Right to Start Act, creating an office of entrepreneurship within the Governor’s Office of Economic Development; Missouri enacted its own Right to Start Act and Office of Entrepreneurship by law in 2024.
New Mexico, Kansas, Michigan, and Colorado have each created by executive and department action an office of entrepreneurship or otherwise designated a director of entrepreneurship for the state.
“Statewide Offices of Entrepreneurship are vital to ensuring that the benefits of entrepreneurship spread to every part of a state,” says Victor Hwang, Founder and CEO of Right to Start. “Entrepreneurship can grow in every community, if barriers that are in the way are removed.”
“Entrepreneurship is a unifying concept – with overwhelming support from voters: Republicans, Democrats, and Independents,” said Jason Grill, Chief Government Affairs Officer of Right to Start. “New and young companies want streamlined processes, less red tape, coordinated policies, and reduced barriers in their state to grow faster and be successful.”
“Indiana’s Office of Entrepreneurship is a major advance for all Hoosiers,” said Courtney Zaugg, Right to Start’s Manager of the Indiana Starters Coalition. “It will provide a crucial focal point for entrepreneurship in the state and advance the benefits of entrepreneurship for everyone.”
For more information, contact Henry Miller at hmiller@highimpactpartnering.com or 917-921-8034.
Right to Start is a national nonpartisan movement to advance entrepreneurship as a civic priority throughout the United States. Entrepreneurship has long been viewed as a solitary endeavor – the lone starter in a basement or garage. Right to Start’s vision is to transform America so that all communities prioritize entrepreneurship, clearing away obstacles to ensure that every American has an equal right to start and a level playing field on which to embark.