Great reasons to buy a business in the Savannah area:
Georgia Tax Incentives for Business: Georgia provides a wide variety of statutory and negotiated incentives to help eligible businesses realize their goals. As an active and interested business partner, Georgia will work with your company to provide the most attractive incentive packages, commensurate with project needs and determine resource availability.
Lower taxes and a lower cost of living enable you to do more with the money you make and maintain a higher standard of living. Home prices, energy rates and office space all index below national averages for comparable areas of the country. But the incentives for doing business in Savannah, Georgia go far beyond your quality of life. Savannah’s strategic location, transportation infrastructure, agreeable climate and logistics network all make Savannah a better place for you to do business. Savannah’s outstanding livability coupled with a variety of attractive incentives makes doing business here a pleasure and gives companies a distinct advantage.
Pro-Business Atmosphere: Regardless of the size of your company or the size of your business dreams, Georgia’s pro-business climate stands ready to support them. Domestically, our state tax rate is very competitive, and state law mandates that Georgia’s budget is continuously balanced. Both the legislative and executive branches of state government have worked for years to create and maintain an excellent environment for business growth and success. Examples include passage of the single factor corporate tax apportionment, integrated plant theory for sales and use tax exemption, improvements to the existing BEST Job Tax Credits and the creation of new tax credits for strategic industry growth.
In addition, Georgia is a right-to-work state with a highly skilled workforce, world-class universities and technical colleges. The Savannah area is home to Savannah College of Art & Design, Armstrong Atlantic University, Savannah State University, Georgia Southern University, Georgia Tech – Savannah campus and the Savannah Technical College.
If you want to know how business-friendly Savannah, Georgia’s climate can be, simply look around the greater Savannah area. It is home to some well-recognized firms who are taking advantage of what the state of Georgia and the city of Savannah have to offer. Among them: Gulfstream Aerospace, the Port of Savannah, Memorial Health, St Joseph/Candler, Georgia-Pacific, International Paper, Kroger, Hunter Army Airfield, Fort Stewart (largest Army base east of the Mississippi River) and tourism. Savannah has a diverse economic foundation that enables opportunities. You don’t have to be a big brand to enjoy big benefits of being in Savannah. Our strong, vibrant business environment is at the center of a progressive and ever-growing region that serves as a gateway to the world for all companies, large or small.
Innovation: Innovation is the key to maintaining competitiveness and the Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD) is committed to innovation that creates new products and services that generate revenue and advances society. To assist innovative companies, we have created The Georgia Centers of Innovation. This unique program brings industry, academic institutions and investment together and covers six important strategic industries that are prominent in Georgia: Centers of Innovation for Aerospace Centers of Innovation for Agribusiness Centers of Innovation for Energy Centers of Innovation for Life Sciences Centers of Innovation for Logistics Centers of Innovation for Manufacturing
The Center of Innovation for Logistics (LINC) is Georgia’s leading resource for accelerating logistics growth and competitiveness in the state. The Center of Innovation for Logistics is focused on identifying a structure from which everyone can work: a unique set of resources detailing the composition and impact of logistics throughout Georgia. Statewide in focus, the Center of Innovation for Logistics is headquartered at Georgia Tech’s Savannah campus and is located close to the Georgia Ports Authority, the Savannah River, two major interstates, an international airport, and many large distribution centers – making it a great resource for logistics businesses. The center’s clients benefit from Georgia Tech’s international reputation as a leader in academic research activities as well as its focus on areas with direct impact upon the competitiveness of industry.
Whether you’re a local business manager looking to boost productivity, a company looking to locate and/or expand to Savannah or an investor looking for venture capital opportunities, you can turn to Georgia Tech – Savannah for your business innovation needs. The Savannah campus plays an important role in the state of Georgia’s economic development initiatives while serving as a resource to regional businesses and organizations.
Georgia Tech – Savannah is home to one of three offices for the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC). ATDC is a start-up accelerator that helps Georgia technology entrepreneurs launch and build successful companies. Founded in 1980, ATDC has helped create millions of dollars in tax revenues by graduating more than 120 companies, which together have raised more than a billion dollars in outside financing. ATDC has provided business incubation and acceleration services to hundreds of Georgia startups—most of which are not based on Georgia Tech research, but which benefit from the close proximity to the university. ATDC is part of the Enterprise Innovation Institute (EI2) at Georgia Tech, which helps Georgia enterprises improve their competitiveness through the application of science, technology and innovation.
Community Partners
Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce: As Savannah flourishes with an assorted economy, the need for a trained workforce rises. The Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce is dedicated with providing Savannah with a workforce that is educated and trained. Their workforce development staff works diligently with the Savannah-Chatham School Board Council to make sure citizens have opportunities to develop necessary skills. The Chamber also provides assistance with governmental affairs by lobbying on the local, state and federal level.
Savannah Economic Development Authority (SEDA): The mission of the Savannah Economic Development Authority is to improve the standard of living for all persons living in Chatham County, Georgia by stimulating economic growth through the attraction of new investment, the creation of new jobs and the support of established businesses already in the area. Whether you’re a business manager looking to boost productivity or a company looking to locate and/or expand to Savannah, you can turn to SEDA. For more information on Georgia’s Incentives opportunities and Savannah incentives opportunities, please contact Lee Grimes at SEDA (Savannah Economic Development Authority) – www.seda.org. Make sure to ask SEDA for the most recent Georgia Tax Incentives Brochure.
The Creative Coast Alliance: The Creative Coast Alliance is a County/City/ SEDA not-for-profit, private/public partnership that leverages Savannah’s unique blend of bright talent, leading-edge technologies and exceptionally high-quality of life to assist the growth and success of creative and technical businesses in the Savannah Coastal Region.