If you are thinking of starting up a small business in Georgia, you are in luck!  Georgia is considered one of the top states in the US for small businesses, and the government goes to great lengths to provide start up businesses with all the information that they need to successfully begin a businesses in Georgia.  Some of the resources offered can be found at: http://www.georgia.org/BusinessInGeorgia/SmallBusiness/BusinessResources/Pages/default.aspx

Incentives for Starting a Business in Georgia

Included among these are tax incentive packages for both start-up and Fortune 500 companies which include tax credits and workforce retraining that reward a company for establishing or relocating the company headquarters to Georgia as it is targeted for development.  Depending on your specific type of company, there may also be incentives added to your start-up incentive package if your company is in specifically desirable industry.

Small Business Grants in Georgia

As to the availability of small business grants in Georgia, the luck wears thin.  Small business grants from the State of Georgia are actually quite thin on the ground, and the state does not offer any grants specifically to start-up businesses, though there are a number of private foundations and organizations that one could turn to, but your business would have to be fine-tuned to the specific interests of the foundation.  For a full listing of the private foundations that offer Grants in Georgia, please visit: http://www.fundsnetservices.com/searchresult.php?sbcat_id=61

If you are looking for grants for specific industries, you may be better off, as the state does provide grants for such things as expanding child care centers and creating specific energy efficient technology and businesses in certain areas of tourism.  Georgia is also committed to providing opportunities to the less fortunate, and will give financial assistance (in the form of the REBA program) to those starting up businesses that target economically depressed areas or populations.  For more information on REBA and other community available funding, please visit:  http://www.georgiasbdc.org/pdfs/ecopack08.pdf

Of course, if you want to see if there are any Federal funds available to those businesses starting or operating in Georgia, you may want to consider applying for Federal Grants, or at least pausing to see if your area of businesses could come in under a Federal Grant umbrella:  http://www.grants.gov/