When Lee Jennings started his accounting business in 1997, he started from scratch, and now R.L. Jennings and Associates is the Greater Rome Chamber of Commerce’s small business of the year.

“We went from two employees to 25; zero in sales to close to $2 million,” said Jennings, who attended Monday’s National Small Business Week kickoff at the chamber.

Jennings said Rome is a great place to start a business.

“You have an educated, trained workforce and access to everything you need,” Jennings said. “Rome has a lot of good infrastructure.”

To the chamber’s Small Business Action Council that means its work is paying off.

As part of Monday’s smallbusiness focus, the chamber unveiled several initiatives for small business in Rome.

A comprehensive 80-page “Entrepreneurship Guide for Rome and Floyd County, Georgia” was the focal point of the presentation.

“This is a guide designed to help entrepreneurs step-by-step,” said Lowell Pratt, small business development coordinator.

He explained the guide has many of the “firsts” that a small business might have to face, such as insurance, loans, hiring and firing, networking and more.

“I know there are people wanting to start a business out there, and although this may not answer every question, it does allow you to get the first steps taken care of,” said Eddie Wilson, CEO for River City Bank and vice chair of the chamber’s Business and Professional Division.

Wilson explained that “for every Pirelli, there’s a hundred small businesses.”

“The big ones are important, but the small ones are just as important,” said Wilson.

A new “Small Business” section on the Chamber’s Web site also spotlighted. The new pages include the Entrepreneurship Guide, grouped into small downloadable booklets, as well as information on the Small Business Action Council, marketing resources, financing information, helpful links and the “Drugs Don’t Work” drug-free workplace program.

Pratt also showed off links to the Chamber Advantage Card, which shows discounts available for chamber members, a marketplace for members to sell products and services to the community and Rome Chamber Connect, its own networking system.

“The city of Rome does have a great Web presence,” said Pratt.

Chairman of the Board David Newby, general manager of Profile Extrusion, explained that even in “hard economic times” there is great opportunity for small businesses to excel.

“A crisis is a terrible opportunity to waste. For small businesses, this is a great opportunity to get workers who may have been laid off from higher positioned jobs with better knowledge,” said Newby.

Newby predicts that small businesses will be key in helping “the economy come back.”

“We want you to know that your chamber has been working feverishly for your local community,” said Newby.

“It amazes me the amount of activity that goes on here. ... Our Chamber is here to help,” added Wilson.

Jennings credits the chamber in his accounting firm’s success.

“With the chamber, my business got plugged in earlier on. Being a part of the chamber has really helped us to network and get to know people, … helped us get to the people we needed to,” said Jennings.

He said there is “a lot of uncertainty when starting a business,” but that the chamber is a “great resource.”

In 2008, Floyd County was designated as an Entrepreneur Friendly community by the state thanks to chamber efforts.

Also, on Monday, Gov. Sonny Perdue announced that Georgia now leads the nation in entrepreneurship, according to a national ranking of smallbusiness activity.

The Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity shows Georgia is home to 590 entrepreneurs per every 100,000 adults, moving the state from third in 2007 to No. 1 this year. Georgia ranks third in the U.S. in the number of companies on the 2008 Inc. 500 Fastest-Growing Private Companies listing.

“This national ranking by the Kauffman Foundation validates the success of Georgia’s Entrepreneur Friendly program in stimulating small business growth and cements our status as the most entrepreneur-friendly state in the U.S.,” Perdue said.