The 8th Annual STATE OF SMALL BUSINESS IN CHATHAM COUNTY will be presented LIVE online, Tuesday, December 8, 2020. The event will go LIVE from 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. on SCORE SAVANNAH’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SCORESavannah This will be a landmark event as the benchmarks to be presented will go down in the history books due to the pandemic. The benchmarks will be given to the Georgia Historical Society for their Covid-19 gallery collection.

Nine area experts will present their information on Savannah’s growth in the small business community over this past year. One representative from each industry will report on the current local statistics in Chatham County. Each speaker will have 2-3 minutes to present their information. The panel of speakers will then discuss the implications of the data presented and how it relates to the local Small Business Community. Audience questions are encouraged.

“It’s important that our small business community gets information they need to help them in making business decisions for the coming year and beyond, especially in these uncertain times,” said event co-founder Marjorie Young, president of Carriage Trade Public Relations. “Data provided during the forum hopefully will enhance that process.”

The presenting sponsors are Wells Fargo and Savannah SCORE.

Supporting Sponsors include; The University of Georgia Small Business Development Center, The Entrepreneur Center, The City of Savannah, Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce, Buy Local Savannah, Savannah Women in Business, The Greater Savannah Black Chamber of Commerce, Savannah Jaycees, Metropolitan Savannah Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Small Business Chamber of Savannah, Carriage Trade Public Relations® Inc., Joe Marchese Construction, Good Cause Marketing, Savannah Master Calendar, and Connect Savannah.

The 2020 State of Small Business in Chatham County presenters are:

SPEAKER: Michael Toma, Ph.D., Professor of economics at Georgia Southern University in Savannah
Topic: Small Business Employment Stats

SPEAKER: Michael Owens, CEO of Tourism Leadership Council
TOPIC: Tourism business

SPEAKER: Rhett Mouchet, Associate Broker, Colliers International Savannah
TOPIC: Commercial Real Estate Trends

SPEAKER: Mike Rose, Development Liaison Manager, City of Savannah
TOPIC: Local Growth in Construction

SPEAKER: Charles Bowen, Corporate / Entertainment Attorney at The Bowen Law Group
TOPIC: Film Industry in Savannah

SPEAKER: Lee Beckman, Ports Authority, Garden City terminal
TOPIC: How much freight was shipped to Savannah this year.

SPEAKER: Victoria Saxton, CFO of the Small Business Assistance Corporation
TOPIC: Small Business Access to Capital in the Savannah Region

SPEAKER: Keith Fletcher, KRF Associates
TOPIC: Tech

SPEAKER: David Maxwell, Senior Director of Finance, City of Savannah
TOPIC: Business Taxation in Savannah

The event will be moderated by Marjorie Young, Founder of Carriage Trade Public Relations and Joe Marchese, Founder of Joe Marchese Commercial Construction.