Medical Devices: Costly, Time-Consuming but Worthy
by Sarah Campbell-Miller – 2 days ago
Startups that build medical devices must clear some high hurdles, but the rewards can be huge.
Small Business
Two Little Rock Real Estate Firms Merge
4 days ago
Winstead Properties and iRealty Arkansas have merged to form iRealty Arkansas-Commercial. It will be brokered by Brian Winstead.
Fresh Coat Painters Headed to Fort Smith
4 days ago
Mario Franco is bringing the first Fresh Coat Painters franchise to Arkansas next week. He's setting up shop in Fort Smith, the town where he grew up.
US Retail Sales Rose 0.5% in May, Led by Online Shopping
Americans stepped up their retail spending last month, a sign that recent worries about cautious consumers dragging on growth may have been overdone. read more >
Apprenticeship Program Aims to Fill Open Jobs in Cybersecurity
Two new Little Rock technology organizations have partnered to create a 16-week cybersecurity apprenticeship program. read more >
Uber Suit Offers Peek Into Gig Economy
Attorney Chris Burks knows the gig economy can be a boon for independent contractors. But the flip side is that employers can have too much of an upper hand. read more >
Olivia Farrell: Six-Legged Stool Approach Key to Success
From treating vendors as partners to hiring the best talent and serving the community, Olivia Farrell shared her "six-legged stool" approach to running a media company at the Rotary Club of Little Rock's weekly luncheon. read more >
John Allison, Marcy Doderer Headline Arkansas Business Executive Leadership Academy
Emerging leaders from business, nonprofit and policy sectors can again learn from some of the most successful and recognizable names in Arkansas as part of the Arkansas Business Executive Leadership Academy. read more >
Millennial Incomes: Median Hits $69,000 in 2017
Median incomes of U.S. households are rising again, and “those headed by a Millennial (someone age 22 to 37) now earn more than young adult households did at nearly any time in the past 50 years,” according to the Pew Research Center. read more >
And Now: Good News (Editorial)
We have suggested to Michael Pakko, the state economic forecaster, that the volume of Movers & Shakers landing in our queue be considered an economic indicator. By that indication, Arkansas' economy is humming. read more >
AEDC Helping Companies Combat Cybercrime
The Arkansas Economic Development Commission is coordinating cybersecurity assessments and providing cybersecurity training to help employers square off against cybercrime, because falling prey to it can cause them to fold or lose big bucks. read more >
Presenting the 40 Under 40 Class of 2019: An Annual List of Rising Stars
Meet 40 impressive young business and community leaders of Arkansas who will give you confidence that our state will be in good hands for decades to some. read more >
US Consumer Confidence Hits Highest Level Since November
American consumers felt more confident this month, shrugging off a rocky stock market and heightened trade tensions between the United States and China. read more >
Acquisitions Alter List of 75 Largest Private Companies in Arkansas
The departures of five companies that were acquired in the past year made room at the bottom of the list for companies that had not made the cutoff last year — or ever. The price of entry to the list? $100 million read more >
The Conductor's Kim Lane Goes Global (Movers & Shakers)
Kim Lane, CEO of the Conductor in Conway, was invited to serve as a U.S. delegate and speaker at the 2019 Global Entrepreneurship Congress in Manama, Bahrain, last month. read more >
SupplyPike to Move to Fayetteville, Create 180 Jobs
SupplyPike, a startup that offers a digital supply chain management platform for consumer packaged goods, is coming to Fayetteville and creating nearly 180 jobs within the next five years. read more >
Conway Takes Stock of Success, Role in Region
City officials and economic development leaders touted Conway's individuality while celebrating its role as part of a larger metropolitan region. read more >
Keith Ward to Lead Little Rock's InterveXion Therapeutics
InterveXion Therapeutics of Little Rock, a private clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing immunotherapies for substance abuse disorders, announced Monday the appointment of Keith Ward, Ph.D., to president and CEO. read more >
Walk-On's Buys Land in Conway for First Arkansas Restaurant
Walk-On's Bixtreaux & Bar, a Cajun-themed restaurant/sports bar co-owned by NFL All-Pro Quarterback Drew Brees, closed Thursday on its $1.37 million purchase of approximately two acres of land at Lewis Ranch in Conway. read more >
WeWork Wants Space With Bentonville Flavor
WeWork is a 9-year-old New York company that builds and runs shared office spaces in more than 100 cities worldwide. It announced April 1 that it would expand its operations to Bentonville at a soon-to-be-developed space at 224 S. Main St. that it hopes to open in 2021. read more >
Northwest Arkansas Plugs Into Innovation
Nelson Peacock is hopeful that the arrival of a global innovation company will help spur northwest Arkansas' business ecosystem and solve some nagging logistical problems. read more >
Tyler Davis Takes Spot on Livestock & Poultry Commission (Movers & Shakers)
Tyler Davis of Ashdown was recently appointed by Gov. Asa Hutchinson to a seven-year term on the Arkansas Agriculture Department's Livestock & Poultry Commission Board. read more >
At Women's Symposium, Leaders Share Tips for Navigating Boardrooms
Simply getting a seat at the corporate table remains a barrier for women in the workforce, a panel of women business leaders said Thursday during the first Soirée Women's Leadership Symposium at the DoubleTree Hotel in Little Rock. read more >
Arkansas Unemployment Drops to 3.6% in April
Arkansas' unemployment rate in April was 3.6%, down one-tenth of a percentage point from the previous month. read more >
Warren Stephens Stands by Startup's CEO Marc Gorlin
Warren Stephens says he has confidence in Marc Gorlin, founder and CEO of crowdsourced delivery service startup Roadie, in which Stephens has invested. After all, he said, look at Kabbage, which “turned out to be a great investment.” read more >
SBA Teams Up With Conductor (Justin Crossie Commentary)
The U.S. Small Business Administration is taking steps to revitalize central Arkansas through a $500,000 award to the Conductor, an organization that partners with the University of Central Arkansas and Startup Junkie Consulting. read more >
Simmons Bank Names Meador SBA Regional Manager of Sales, Business Development
Simmons Bank has named Itzel Meador its Small Business Association regional manager of sales and business development. read more >
Grants to Jump-Start Economic Development in Park Hill, Levy
The city of North Little Rock is sprucing up the Park Hill and Levy business districts with federally funded Jump Start grants and playing a long game when it comes to economic development in those areas. read more >
Central Arkansas Unemployment at 3.5 Percent
The unemployment rate in the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway metropolitan statistical area remains near a historical low, 3.5% in February. read more >
Insult Added to Injury at the Atkins Chronicle
Last month, folks at the Atkins Chronicle felt the latest blow in a couple of hard-knock years when the small newspaper's retail boxes were robbed. read more >
Little Rock Startup Set to Sell Speed-Torque
Vascugenix, a Little Rock startup run mostly by students at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, plans to bring its medical device for emergency heart surgeries to market in late August or early September. read more >
FIS, Venture Center Launch 4th Annual Fintech Accelerator
Global financial services company FIS of Jacksonville, Florida, and the Venture Center in Little Rock named the 10 startups selected to participate in the 2019 VC FinTech Accelerator program. read more >
Arkansas Delta Boosters Seek 'Critical Mass'
The Arkansas Delta Council, a nonprofit economic development organization still in formation, hopes to raise money and entice investors to a region that has been losing population, unevenly but inexorably, for half a century. read more >
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