INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. –  Governor Mike Braun today recognized Global Entrepreneurship Week in Indiana by highlighting new initiatives and measurable results showing the state’s rise as one of America’s best places to start and grow a business.

Governor Mike Braun, a Main Street entrepreneur himself, created the first ever Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Indiana to support small businesses. He also launched Power Up Indiana, a new initiative that incentivizes employers to upskill, retrain, and promote their employees.

“We’re working to make Indiana the best place in the country to start and grow a business, and with the Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Power Up Indiana, READI 2.0 and our new jobs-and-wages centered economic development model, we’re well on our way to achieving that goal this Global Entrepreneurship Week.” – Governor Mike Braun

Building on a Record of Results

• Indiana ranks near the top nationally in the Global Entrepreneurship Network’s state leaderboard, as do some Indiana cities: GEW Leaderboard | Global Entrepreneurship Network.
• The Indiana Small Business Development Center assisted 5,817 entrepreneurs and helped 372 new businesses launch in 2025.
• The Community Collaboration Fund invested $1 million statewide, supporting projects from Fort Wayne’s SEED/Brightpoint childcare-business accelerator to Muncie’s Innovation Connector, to the Ignition at 16Tech incubator designed to support early-stage collegiate founders, to Purdue Northwest’ s Baby-Boomer Succession Accelerator.
• The Office of Commerce’s READI 2.0 program is supporting communities across the state, and gBETA Indiana helped 30 companies raise $500,000 and created 27 new jobs this year across Main Street, agbioscience, and high-tech industries.
• Other programs supporting entrepreneurship in Indiana include STARTedUp, which cultivates entrepreneurship skills in students and has reached 13,640 Hoosier students this year, and Innovate WithIN which saw 1,854 students participating in this year’s competition, the largest high school pitch competition in the country.

Hoosier Entrepreneurship by the Numbers

• 591,000+ small businesses – 99.4% of all Indiana businesses
• 1.2 million Hoosiers (43% of the workforce) are employed by small businesses
• Indiana’s startup and small business survival rate ranks in the top 5 nationally, with 84% Indiana businesses remaining open after one year.
• Businesses under 5 years old account for 74% of new job growth

• By Sydney Byerly, The Indiana Citizen

• Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith and Secretary of State Diego Morales urged lawmakers before both chambers met on Organization Day to revive Indiana’s stalled redistricting effort during a small rally at the Statehouse. They called on the Senate to return for a special session and take a roll-call vote.

  The rally comes after Senate Republican leadership announced earlier this month that the chamber will not convene on Dec. 1 as planned, saying there aren’t enough GOP votes to advance mid-decade redistricting. The decision has created an unusual public divide within Republican ranks, with national and state party figures pushing aggressively for new maps and Senate leaders insisting the support simply isn’t there. 

  President Donald J. Trump over the weekend took to Truth Social to berate Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray and Sen. Greg Goode, threatening to oust Republican state senators who opposed redistricting by supporting opponents in primaries. Vice President JD Vance visited Indiana in October to lobby Republican leaders in person. 

  Beckwith told a crowd of about 50 people Tuesday morning that Republicans must act because Democrat-led states such as California and Illinois have already redrawn maps for political advantage. Texas began the 2025 redistricting race when its state legislature, at Trump’s urging, redrew congressional districts to increase the number of Republicans seats. 

  “Republicans have to protect their voice in Indiana,” Beckwith said. “This is the most bipartisan issue in America right now. Don’t let them tell you that in Indiana this is not bipartisan—it very much is.”

  Morales echoed the warning and linked redistricting to national political stakes, telling the crowd that if Democrats win control of the U.S. House in 2026, “they will immediately push to impeach President Trump.”

  “I’m here to tell you that Republicans need to start acting like Republicans,” he said.

  Why the fight matters

  

  The push for new maps—coming just four years after Indiana completed its regular once-a-decade redistricting process—has been fueled by national and state Republicans who want a 9–0 map that would give the GOP control of all nine of Indiana’s U.S. House seats. 

  Gov. Mike Braun in late October called for a special session to consider redrawing the districts. But Bray has repeatedly said the votes are not there within his caucus and called offthe scheduled session last week. At least several Senate Republicans have publicly resisted the push, citing ethical concerns about mid-cycle redistricting, worries about public backlash or simply a lack of consensus among GOP members. 

  Rally attendees demand a vote

  Alice Work, a Plainfield resident and president of the Indiana Republican Assembly, said she was disappointed to learn the Senate had canceled the December special session.

  “I think that people need to have an up-or-down vote from their representatives,” Work said. “We’re not being told what’s going on. We have to get it by word of mouth. But we need votes on paper.”

  Work said she supports a 9–0 map but emphasized that transparency—not unanimity—is what matters. “Legislators shouldn’t be hiding behind doors,” she said.

  Brian Pease, an Evansville resident and chair of the Indiana Freedom Caucus, said he attended because Beckwith recently traveled south to speak at one of his events. He also challenged Bray’s explanation that the Senate lacked the votes to proceed.

  “If you’re not sure, if you don’t know, then find out,” Pease said. “Have a vote. Do your job. See what the representatives say—they’re supposed to reflect their constituents. Otherwise he’s suppressing the will of the people through their representatives.”

  Pease said simply being visible at the Statehouse matters. 

  “So many times they operate on the idea that if the public doesn’t know what they’re doing, the public won’t know what they’re doing wrong,” he said. “Let’s pull back the curtain. Let’s have transparency.”

  The rally drew fewer than 100 people, many wearing red shirts or hats while carrying laminated paper signs with slogans like “Give Us a Roll Call Vote!” and “Let’s Go 9–0!” Attendees chanted “9–0!” while gathering for a group photo after Beckwith prayed over the group.

  This article was published by TheStatehouseFile.com through a partnership with The Indiana Citizen, a nonpartisan, nonprofit platform dedicated to increasing the number of informed, engaged Hoosier citizens.

  Sydney Byerly is a political reporter who grew up in New Albany. Before joining The Citizen, Sydney reported news for TheStatehouseFile.com and most recently managed and edited The Corydon Democrat & Clarion News in southern Indiana. She earned her bachelor’s in journalism at Franklin College’s Pulliam School of Journalism (‘Sco Griz!).