West Virginia Hive Celebrates New Offices, Business Hub and Coworking Space
The West Virginia Hive, a business development accelerator for southern West Virginia, is formally opened its new offices, business hub and coworking space at 205 South Kanawha Street in Beckley on Friday, Oct. 16, with a ribbon cutting celebration featuring leaders from the agencies that helped make this project possible.
Kris Warner, State Director for Rural Development, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), headlined the 9:30 a.m. ribbon cutting for the newly-renovated facility, which is in a Tax Cuts and Jobs Act designated Opportunity Zone.
Judy Moore, Director of the West Virginia Hive, said two USDA grants and a U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration grant were catalysts for the new business development accelerator.
“The federal grants were essential, but we can’t forget this project’s success is all about the people from the local, state and national levels who came together to pave the way for the business hub,” said Moore. “Beckley Mayor Robert Rappold, Joe Brouse of the New River Gorge Regional Development Authority, Bill Massey and the Massey Family Foundation, members of the Beckley Presbyterian Church, Kris Warner with the USDA, Tracey Rowan with the EDA, and our Congressional delegation (Senators Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito and Rep. Carol Miller) all came together to support this economic development breakthrough project.”
The ribbon cutting was held at 9:30 a.m. at the new facility, and a Facebook Live session with dignitaries is available using the West Virginia Hive Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/
For those in the Beckley region who would like to visit the new regional business hub and coworking space, tours are available utilizing social distancing, limited numbers of people in the facility at one time, and all people being required to wear facial masks.
The annual West Virginia Hive awards – Small Business of the Year; Startup of the Year; Entrepreneur of the Year; Social Enterprise of the Year; and Partner of the Year were also awarded during the celebration. The West Virginia Hive has served 306 businesses and helped launch 44 businesses in its service area. It is currently assisting 79 clients with business advising and technical assistance support on business modeling, financing, human resources, marketing and other services.
More about the West Virginia Hive can be found at https://wvhive.com/ The Hive is the entrepreneurship program of the New River Gorge Regional Development Authority and the administrator of the Country Roads Angel Network.
