BBIF Florida is a is a non-traditional lender that specializes in providing loans to black, minority and underserved small businesses.

We offer workforce development opportunities for businesses and job seekers in DeSoto, Hardee, Highlands and Okeechobee Counties. For employers, we offer online job postings, online business resources, virtual recruiting tools, recruitment and screening, and training funds to maximize the growth of your company and your employees.

Our Certified Mentor volunteers experience fields range in start ups, business plans, sales/marketing, manufacturing, mergers/acquisitions, economic development and much more. We provide guidance and counseling to entrepreneurs in start up and existing businesses to help them succeed and thrive.

All businesses in the City are required to obtain a business tax receipt.

We are a vibrant business network that links its members with the community to promote and enhance growth and prosperity.

Whether you are expanding an existing business or relocating a business to Florida, the Desoto County Economic Development Office team of professionals is ready to serve your business with the tools and advice you’ll need to flourish. We are here to stand as your one-stop resource for business assistance.

Enterprise Florida recruits new business to the state, and works to retain and expand existing industry and business. We provide site selection services, demographic information, incentive information and much more.

We are charged with licensing and regulating businesses and professionals in the State of Florida, such as cosmetologists, veterinarians, real estate agents and pari-mutuel wagering facilities.

Here, you will find information about workforce programs, community development opportunities, and economic development initiatives and programs.

Our activities include a variety of business entity filings, trade and service mark registrations, federal lien recordings, judgment lien filings, uniform commercial code financing statements, fictitious name registrations, notary commissions, and cable and video service franchises.

Since 1964, the Florida Economic Development Council has promoted economic development throughout the state of Florida. Today we are its primary resource for developing economic development professionals, issues education, networking, and recognition of excellence among members of the profession. 500+ professionals count on FEDC to educate, advocate, and connect on their behalf.

We market, facilitate and advocate for regional economic development in South Central Florida.

We are a regional economic development initiative to grow high tech industry and innovation through partnerships that support research, marketing, workforce and entrepreneurship.

The Florida Medical Manufacturers Consortium (FMMC) is a state-wide association of medical device firms, that exists to unite, promote and grow our industry.

We are available to help improve business opportunities for Florida-based woman-, veteran- and minority-owned small businesses.

The Florida Venture Forum is a statewide member organization that helps entrepreneurs obtain funding through education, strategic partnering and effective networking. The Forum's educational programs provide in-depth information on topics such as raising debt and equity capital, human resources, finance, management, term sheet negotiation, valuations, marketing and R&D.

FloridaMakes is a nonprofit that works with individual manufacturing companies, to deliver company-centric service with bottom-line results, designed to: help you expand your market opportunities; adopt best practices, advanced technologies and training, and make the best use of existing public and private state and national resources available to enhance and further your company's growth.

We provide strategies, resources and support to second-stage companies for next level growth through Strategic Research and peer-to-peer CEO mentoring. We help companies overcome obstacles to growth and lead them towards prosperity.

Employer Identification Numbers are issued for the purpose of tax administration and are not intended for participation in any other activities.

We connect qualified companies with aggressive development plans to investors from the Florida community. We focus on businesses that already have some proof of concept and we will do our best to refer all Florida companies to resources to assist in eliminating the roadblocks slowing down growth.

PoweringFlorida combines the power of both Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Planning and Economic Modeling Specialists International (EMSI) workforce data in one easy-to-use application to help you quickly explore and compare Florida’s communities; gain a broad understanding of the labor force statistics, consumer spending, geography, demography and other important data; and identify and evaluate all available sites and buildings in each community.

We specialize in providing bilingual assistance to Hispanic entrepreneurs trying to establish or expand their business. We offer a variety of services especially designed for Hispanic small business owners, to empower them through training, consulting, grants and access to capital.

No-cost confidential business consulting, information, and low-cost training. Whether starting, buying, growing or selling a business, we have what entrepreneurs need to grow and succeed. Consultants can assist entrepreneurs in a variety of business areas, including: marketing, business certification, capital access, market diversification, developing strategic business plans, export services, and web optimization.

Our office provides counseling and mentoring, access to capital, government contracting, exporting assistance and training.