Video: Rising Small Business Success

by Victoria Bailey

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI)—We know large industry brings in a large amount of jobs.

However, it’s small businesses that employ the most people.

Owners know they have to offer something special to the community to keep their doors open.

Today… WCBI’s Victoria Bailey visits two Starkville small business owners and tells us more about how they’re rolling in success.

Small business owners say starting a small business requires an idea, great risk and giving to the community.

De’Rego Bakery Owner, Troy De’Rego says,”I began baking bread at the farmers market, here in town, in 2013. With the intention of testing the waters seeing if

people liked my product and that continued to grow. I eventually left my job in web design and pursued this full time.”

The biscuit shop owner Michelle Tehan says her start up business was a learning experience.

Tehan says,”I have learned a lot from the different restaurants in town because; I was a home baker and to be able to bake from home and what your looking for in a kitchen for your family and what you looking for commercially. I had no idea how different those things were.

It can be challenging starting from scratch; However, there are organizations, such as the Greater Starkville Development Partnership, to help.

De’Rego says,”They’ve always been supportive and as I grow my business here on main street; they’ve been a great source to helping me get the word out to the rest of the state.”

Tehan says, “But if you just want to know what’s happening where to shop; they’re going to tell you. And we are really fortunate to have been apart of that.

The Small Business Administration reports there are more than two hundred 42 thousand small businesses in Mississippi with about four hundred 30 thousand workers.