IU honors local businesses

The Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, a part of IU's Kelley School of Business, honored 86 Indiana businesses with its Growth 100 Award Wednesday for creating new employment and meeting financial challenges.\nThe awards, which have been presented for a decade, honor high-potential, high-growth companies in Indiana.\n"Although the economy across the state has been very challenging this past year, we have an impressive 86 companies that not only weathered the challenges, but were able to grow at an overall average of 30.5 percent," Johnson Center Director Elizabeth Gatewood said in a news release. "These entrepreneurial companies have a strong impact on the state, not only financially, but also through employment."\nShe said over the past year, these companies increased their full-time employees by an average of 25 percent, and a growing number of these companies are in technology.\n"We expect to see continued growth in this area as the state actively works to establish itself as a technology and life science industry leader," Gatewood said.\nShe said these companies represent the entrepreneurial spirit of Indiana businesses.\n"This award validates all their hard work," Gatewood said. "It says to them, their employees and their customers that they are doing things the right way"