So, why Northwest Arkansas?

• Forbes named Fayetteville, Arkansas, a Best Place for Businesses and Careers.
• Travel + Leisure named Bentonville, Arkansas, one of the hottest travel destinations for 2012.
• The region, relatively insulated from the macroeconomy, offers a high quality of life and low cost of living.
• Northwest Arkansas is home to Fortune 500 and 1000 companies, as well as thousands of their big-brand suppliers.
• In 2011, Arkansas was cited by CNBC as having the lowest overall cost of doing business in the nation.
• The Kauffman Foundation ranks Arkansas as the 15th most entrepreneurial state in 2011 in the current issue of its annual report, the Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity. The calculated index for Arkansas is at 0.34%, which means there are 340 entrepreneurs per 100,000 adults per month in the Natural State.
• The nation is seeing progress, innovation clusters and cultural revival in the Midwest and American South.
• Northwest Arkansas is the sixth fastest growing region in the country, surrounded by the beautiful Ozark Mountains.
• The Northwest Arkansas MSA has grown 35% since 2000 and now numbers more than 463,000 residents—the fastest growing population in Middle America.
• Northwest Arkansas is a hub at the center of a regional market including Dallas, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Kansas City, St. Louis, Little Rock, and Memphis metropolitan areas.
• Northwest Arkansas has a welcoming entrepreneurial culture with quick-start networking opportunities.
• Northwest Arkansas sees a high degree of philanthropic engagement from its citizenry, as well as creative and business communities.
• Northwest Arkansas has the most billionaires per capita than anywhere in the United States.
• As part of a regional strategic economic development plan, Northwest Arkansas has an intentional focus on nurturing mobile and Internet startups.