Photo by J. Stephen Conn/FlickrCC
The New River Gorge Regional Development Authority (NRGRDA) will help business owners seeking an exit strategy during a one-day seminar to be held in February.
According to a media release from the NRGRDA, West Virginia’s business owners are aging, with just more than 36 percent of business owners in Raleigh, Fayette, Summers and Nicholas counties over 60 years old and another 27 percent between 40 and 59.
What that means for the future of small business cannot be predicted, but an educated forecast could mean an economic disaster for the region.
“One scenario could be that these business owners don’t transition their operations to the next generation of entrepreneurs. That would mean the loss of thousands of jobs, dwarfing the downturn we’re currently experiencing with the contraction of the coal industry,” an NRGRDA media release said.
But business owners could help prevent that by formulating succession plans. A portion of the seminar will be one-on-one conversations with business experts to help with making those plans.
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