With its numerous cost advantages, cutting-edge connectivity and communication infrastructure, access to knowledge workers and hassle-free quality of life, Wyoming's economic development climate is a natural choice for entrepreneurs who want to locate or expand a business.

Wyoming was ranked among the top five entrepreneur-friendly states in 2009 by the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council. And the state offers a number of resources, including the Wyoming Small Business Development Center, which provides consultation on a range of business subjects to 4,000 to 5,000 entrepreneurs each year, says Ben Avery, business and industry director with the Wyoming Business Council, which oversees the center. The center offers assistance in areas such as preparing business plans, analyzing markets and customer bases, and understanding finances, and provides help in accessing important trade shows to market products and services.

Those advantages have helped the state draw a diverse mix of innovative entrepreneurial companies.

English Is Commerce

Eleutian Technology, which is headquartered in Casper but has operations throughout the state, is a good example. The company utilizes high-speed Internet connections to help students in South Korea and other Asian countries learn the English language, and Eleutian has recently branched into Latin America.

“We are a leader in online English language instruction to global classrooms via live video conferencing,” says Kent Holiday, Eleutian president. "English is the language of commerce. It is one thing we can't outsource because others want to learn English, specifically from someone in America."

Eleutian now employs 500 to 600 English teachers statewide, earning annual salaries averaging around $50,000.

A relocation from Canada to Lander is Eggli Bros. Millwork, which manufactures high-quality architectural millwork found in hospitals, schools, banks and office buildings. One of the company's recent projects was constructing new desks for the entire Wyoming State Capitol.

Whiskey and Oats

Other entrepreneurial ventures that are experiencing success these days include Wyoming Whiskey, which has launched bourbon production at its new distillery in the Big Horn Basin — the first legal distillery in the state. The master distiller relocated from Kentucky to Wyoming and the distillery has initial plans to produce 1,000 barrels of Wyoming Whiskey a year.

Gluten Free Oats is a company in Powell that began as a Future Farmers of America project by then-high-school-freshman Seaton Smith, who suffered from celiac disease. Smith began rolling and marketing gluten-free rolled oats to a local celiac support group, and today his company’s products are sold around the world.

Avery adds that other entrepreneurial achievements are contributing to Wyoming economic development in such fields as agribusiness, and travel and tourism.

“There are many entrepreneurial success stories in Wyoming these days, and we are obviously pleased with every one of them,” he says. “And now, the Wyoming Business Council has contracted with a Denver/New York finders company that is helping us analyze entrepreneurial start-ups throughout all of America that would be ideally suited for Wyoming. Our state is well on its way to creating a very diverse economy.”