The City of Long Beach on Wednesday launched its new online business portal, BizPort, a digital ombudsman to help entrepreneurs easily navigate the steps to start, manage and grow a business, according to city officials.
BizPort launched during Innovation Week, which features a series of public events throughout October highlighting the creativity, diversity and entrepreneurial spirit throughout Long Beach.
“BizPort, our new business portal, was designed and conceived from the ground up by local entrepreneurs to give them the support and resources they need,” said Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia. “Small businesses are crucial to our community, and BizPort will make the process of starting and running a business much easier in Long Beach.”
The new business portal will clarify and simplify the startup process for new businesses and add additional resources to help existing small businesses grow, officials said.
Although 75 percent of applicants have their business license issued within 12 days, the major aim of the business portal is to better prepare all entrepreneurs to get through the process quicker. BizPort was developed by Code for America, a civic tech nonprofit.
The new tool reduces the cost and confusion of starting a business by simplifying the application process, and linking entrepreneurs to business support resources across multiple government agencies.
More information is available at bizport.longbeach.gov.
