SMALL BUSINESS
The Small Business Office supports small businesses through shop local campaigns, networking events, professional development presentations, and celebrations honoring the achievements of businesses in our community!
SMALL BUSINESS AWARDS GALA
For over 30 years the Chamber has been supporting and recognizing individuals and businesses that make a positive impact on our community through their products, services, and outstanding attributes. Our annual Small Business Awards Gala honors the best of the best small business entrepreneurs, young professionals, nonprofits, and executive leadership.
Awards will be announced at the Small Business Awards Gala (black tie event) on Thursday, Sept. 28, in the North Hall of the Von Braun Center from 6–9 p.m. See the Contender list.
Past Small Business Award Winners
| 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
Photos from the past events (2012–2022) >>
BEST PLACES TO WORK® AWARDS
The Chamber’s annual Best Places to Work® awards honors outstanding companies in Huntsville/Madison County whose benefits, policies and practices are among the area’s best. Along with full bragging rights, Best Places to Work® gives businesses a unique tool that cultivates employee engagement in the workplace.
Rankings are based on an Employee Engagement Survey that asks employees to rate their company on a variety of workplace issues and topics. Surveys are administered and tabulated by Quantum Workplace—a third party research firm—and results are exclusively based on survey response participation. All companies are guaranteed anonymity regarding participating and results.
Past Best Places to Work® Award Winners
| 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
Photos from the past events (2012–2023) >>
NETWORKING EVENTS
Networking is essential in helping to develop and improve interpersonal skill sets, stay on top of industry trends, keep a pulse on the job market, meet prospective mentors, partners, and customers. This is why the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber offers monthly (6 in a calendar year) networking opportunities at alternating times of day to accommodate busy professionals.
Breakfast & Biz
Breakfast & Biz is a fast-paced networking event designed for members of the business community to connect and promote their products or services in a time-saving and effective way. Attendees arrive at work after a light breakfast and plenty of coffee with a handful of business cards, and follow-up calls to be made!
Photos from the past events >>
Business After Hours
People do business with people they know, and there’s no better way to get to know other professionals than by attending a Business After Hours! Attendees have the opportunity to build a network, share common challenges, ideas and solutions, and connect with other local business professionals over a drink and lite hors d’oeuvres. With one of the greatest draws to these networking events being the opportunity to meet new professionals, attendees are always encouraged to bring someone new, as well as plenty of business cards!
Photos from the past events >>
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SERIES
The professional world is becoming increasingly competitive and is constantly changing, so professional development and continual learning is more important than ever to be successful and achieve business and career goals. Technologies and best practices are evolving and progressing in every industry, making it crucial for both new and experienced professionals to continue developing their skills and honing their knowledge.
To give professionals the opportunity to learn and apply new knowledge and skills that can help them in their job the Chamber offers monthly programming that further develops computer skills on a variety of platforms (Word, Excel, Google), as well as informative programming on topics like cyber security, human resource management, how to do business with local and federal government entities, trends in marketing, and more.
Photos from the past events >>
SMALL BUSINESS WEEK
April 29 –May 6 is 2023 Small Business Week! We encourage you to support local businesses throughout the week, and we offer these suggestions on different ways to do just that: @Mention Monday, Takeout Tuesday, Welcome Wednesday, Thankful Thursday, Friendly Friday, and Self-Care Saturday.
Watch the videos we made for the Small Business Week!
C-SUITE SPEAKER SERIES
The path to entrepreneurship or company leadership is not for the weak. It is a long and arduous process that is filled with moments of success and failure, and feelings of self-doubt and personal satisfaction. Those who find success embrace these trials and tribulations and use them as fuel to move further along the path and to find even greater success. It is from these people that we can learn some of the most powerful lessons to finding success!
The Chamber’s C-Suite Speaker Series, 4 presentations offered once a quarter, brings CEOs, CFOs, COOs and other C-Suite level executives from leading companies/organizations to the podium to share their experiences with success and failure as they made their journey to the C-Suite. These programs build awareness, foster understanding and spark conversation among attendees as they network with these key decision makers in the community.
Photos from the past events >>
Shop LOCAL-OPOLY
Shop LOCAL-OPOLY encourages members of the community to shop local for a chance to win 100’s of dollars in gift cards to finish out their holiday shopping for the year!
LOCAL-OPOLY is promoted across Huntsville through the Chamber’s website and social media channels, and by the companies that are on the board. Patrons are reminded daily of those that make up and support the small business community as they look to their LOCAL-OPOLY board to shop and collect receipts for a chance to win during the holiday season!
WOMEN'S BUSINESS COUNCIL
The Women’s Business Council supports the mission and vision of the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber by providing a platform to network, mentor, and develop leaders among the women in business in the North Alabama region. This is accomplished by hosting dynamic programming and unique networking opportunities throughout the year.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Thursday, Sept. 28, 6–9 p.m.
The 38th Annual Small Business Awards Gala
Location: VBC Saturn Ballroom
Tuesday, Oct. 10, 5–7 p.m.
WBC Wine Down with Women Who Lead -- SOLD OUT
Location: ChurchStreet Wine Shoppe
Thursday, Oct. 12, 7:30–9 a.m.
Breakfast & Biz
Location: Topgolf Huntsville
Thursday, Nov. 9, 5–7 p.m.
Business After Hours
Location: UAH Invention to Innovation Center (I2C)
Monday, Nov. 13, 11:30 a.m.–1 p.m.
WBC Luncheon with Dr. Pat Sims
Location: Huntsville Area Association of Realtors
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SERIES
All classes are held at the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber
Tuesday, Oct. 17, 9–10:30 a.m.
Partnering with NASA
Tuesday, Nov. 14, 9–10:30 a.m.
Benefits of Forming an ESOP
Thursday, Nov. 30, 9–10:30 a.m.
Critical Year-End HR To-Do's (Registration coming soon!)
QUESTIONS? CONTACT:
Ashley Engles-Ross
Vice President, Small Business
256-535-2043
Contact Small Business Team
America’s Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) are the largest most comprehensive network supporting the entrepreneurial ecosystem with over 1,000 SBDCs nationwide and 10 in the state of Alabama.
The APEX Accelerator serves as the bridge between small businesses and government contracting (city, state and federal). We are results-driven and offer confidential business advising and professional development services at no cost to our clients, funded in part by the SBA and DoD. We work closely with the area economic development agencies, chambers of commerce and are affiliated with UAH.
The UAH SBDC/APEX Accelerator is a regional office serving the 7 counties (Madison, Marshall, Morgan, Limestone, DeKalb Cullman and Jackson Counties) in the northeast part of Alabama. Our offices are located in the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber. And, we continue to work in a hybrid fashion due to client demand. We assist small business owners through all phases of the business lifecycle, Growing our Economy, one Business at a Time!
RESOURCES
- Ready.gov - Incident Management
- Sans Institute Incident Response Policy - Security Policy Templates
- Chat GPT
- Cybersecurity Incident & Vulnerability Response Playbooks (CISA)
- PhishFirewall - Security Awareness Training
- Professional Development Series Past Presentations
