ASU students have helped make Phoenix the top-rated city in the nation for entrepreneurs, a distinction that can only mean more opportunities for students, school officials said.
Entrepreneur magazine and the National Policy Research Council ranked Phoenix the best city to start and grow a business, using an index that measures business formation and business growth over the last four to 14 years.
ASU professors attribute the Valley's success to low business operating costs, a constantly changing demographic and even the W. P. Carey School of Business.
"Part of it is because we're such a dynamic area with people moving in and out," said Tracy Clark, associate director of the Economic Outlook Center at ASU. "There's a lot of opportunity for people to create entrepreneurship.
"We're also seen as a favorable place in terms of tax burden and cost of doing business."
Mary Lou Bessette, director of the Spirit of Enterprise Center at ASU, said 97 percent of companies in Arizona are small businesses - considered companies with three to 99 employees - which she also attributed to population growth.
The freedom involved with self-employment is also a motivation to start personal businesses, Bessette said.
"There's a whole other lifestyle issue where people want to control their lives," Bessette said. "They want to find their passion."
Now, more students are considering entrepreneurship as a career choice, she added.
Barry Van Hook, management professor at ASU, said a lot of graduates have opted for entrepreneurship over joining a company.
"We've got a tremendous base of graduates in the Phoenix area, many of whom have gone on to start their own businesses," he said.
Van Hook also attributed a surging population, a business-friendly climate and ASU's business school to contributing to entrepreneurial growth.
"There's a whole lot of factors," Van Hook said. "The college of business is one."
Van Hook said the business college has been integrating entrepreneurship into the program for many years.
The school is also working to do more, including a new program dealing with small businesses and entrepreneurship being launched by the marketing department this spring.
"Being here provides the opportunity, and the more opportunity, the better," Van Hook said.
Clark, the ASU management professor, also said students no longer have to relocate to start a business.
"We're trying to ramp up the number of products that can be spun off into saleable products," he said.
Clark said if a student has a good business or product idea they can try to get backing by the University to help launch it into the marketplace.
"Since President Crow has arrived there's been a more concentrated effort to move in that direction," Clark said.
The Spirit of Enterprise Center at ASU has also helped students get their businesses off the ground.
"We're constantly providing resources for students and the community to help establish small businesses," said Lea Farr, associate director of the Spirit of Enterprise Center.
"A lot of the growth of the economy is centered around small business," Farr said. "That's where most people enter the workforce, and it's where a lot of technology develops.
"All of that is critical in growing and sustaining our economy."
Reach the reporter at beth.cochran@asu.edu.
