Start a New Business in Indiana

INBiz is the state of Indiana’s one-stop resource for registering and managing your business and ensuring it complies with state laws and regulations. It is a valuable tool that helps new businesses get properly registered and existing businesses stay up-to-date on everything for their business.

In partnering with the Secretary of State, Department of Workforce Development and the Department of Revenue, INBiz has created a portal that provides a streamlined and expedited process for your business needs.

Phone: 317-234-9768

Secretary of State INBiz website

The Minority and Women's Business Enterprises Division of the Department of Administration assists minority-, woman- and veteran-owned businesses by creating a fair, competitive, and equitable business environment.

Part of its mission is to certify women-owned businesses so you can benefit from subcontracting opportunities on state contracts.

To qualify, a business must be 51 percent owned by a woman or women who:

• Possess expertise in the field

• Control the business enterprise

• Are U.S. citizens

601 West McCarty Street
Indianapolis, Indiana 46225
Phone: 1-800-457-8283

Indiana Department of Administration Office of Minority and Women’s Business Enterprise Division website

The Indiana SBA is supported by a district office in Indianapolis. They provide services including funding programs, counseling, federal contracting, certifications, and disaster recovery. They can also connect you to partner organizations, lenders, and other community groups that help small businesses succeed.

The Indianapolis office serves all 92 counties in Indiana.

Examples of educational programs and events include Indiana Tax Obligations and Compliance, Federal Contracting 101, Veterans is a Franchise Right for You, and The Art of Business.

Main district office:
5726 Professional Circle
Suite 100
Indianapolis, Indiana 46241
Phone: 317-226-7272

Indiana Small Business Administration website

Need to set and achieve business goals? Wonder about your next best steps? Feel overwhelmed and under supported? The Northeast Indiana Innovation Center provides one-on-one and group coaching, workshops, and community for women at every stage of their entrepreneurial journey - whether you have a side hustle you want to turn into a full-time business or have been in business for 10 years.

Many resources are available free of charge and include information on innovation accelerators, business planning, capital, disaster recovery, financing, government contracting, human resources, ideation, IT, the law, marketing, operations, permits and licensing, space, and youth support.

3201 Stellhorn Road
Fort Wayne, Indiana 46815
Phone: 260-407-6442

Northeast Indiana Innovation Center NIIC Women’s Business Center website

The Central Indiana Women’s Business Center (CIWBC) is a cooperative program between the U.S. Small Business Administration and the Indy Chamber. It is designed to promote the creation and growth of businesses by women entrepreneurs by empowering them towards successful entrepreneurship and economic self-sufficiency.

Entrepreneurial services include:

• Access to capital - They offer loans and financing that aren’t available through traditional lenders. With amounts ranging from $1,000 to $50,000+, they have you covered, whatever your need may be.

• Education - Whether you need assistance with accounting, HR, or anything in between, their experienced coaches will give you the tools and resources you need to succeed.

• Connections - Clients cultivate sustainable relationships throughout the nine county Indy Region. These connections build networks that support you at business growth.

111 Monument Circle
Suite 1950
Indianapolis, Indiana 46204
Phone: (317) 464-2245

Central Indiana Women’s Business Center CIWBC website

The Indiana Small Business Development Center (Indiana SBDC) helps small businesses start, grow, finance, innovate, and transition through no-cost, confidential business advising and training.

In addition to services including "Start your business," “Grow your business," "Finance your business," "Innovate," and "Transition,” programs are focused on "Innovative Agribusiness," "Cybersecurity resources," "Export Indiana Accelerator," "Indiana Technical Assistance," and "Manufacturing initiatives."

Recent event and workshop topics include:

• Youth Employment Law 101

• Market, Management, Money and More: A Webinar for Start Ups

• Making Better Decisions with Analytics: A Webinar for Small Business Owners

• Business Planning Made Simple

• The Big View: Marketing is More than Advertising

Central Indiana SBDC located at
Butler University
625 Butler Way
Suite 130
Indianapolis, Indiana 46208
Phone: (888) 472-3244

Indiana Small Business Development Center website

A network of 10 regional Indiana SBDC offices are located throughout the state in Bloomington, Crown Point, Evansville, Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, Kokomo, Muncie, New Albany, South Bend, and Terre Haute.

SCORE offers women entrepreneurs key resources to build on their strengths and provide new avenues to success.

Along with resources and tools created especially for women entrepreneurs, SCORE offers free and confidential business advice. SCORE mentors, many of them successful women small business owners, are ready to help you achieve your business goals.

Events specifically for women entrepreneurs include the SCORE Women's Small Business Symposium; Small, Minority and Women Owned Business Workshop; Women Owned Small Business Certification Workshop; and Minority Women's Roundtable.

SCORE Indianapolis (Virtual Mentoring)
Phone: 317-934-0056

SCORE Indianapolis and Johnson County website

Johnson County SCORE
1499 Windhorst Way
Suite 160
Greenwood, Indiana 46143
Phone: 317-886-8601

NAWBO Indianapolis connects women business owners with resources, opportunities, and each other.

NAWBO:

• Strengthens the wealth creating capacity of members and promotes economic development within the entrepreneurial community,

• Creates innovative and effective changes in the business culture,

• Builds strategic alliances, coalitions and affiliations, and

• Transforms public policy and influence opinion makers.

Resources you need to achieve smart business growth are available to NAWBO members on both a local and national level—resources that can help you find everything from new sources of capital to maximizing your certification to tips on how to begin government contracting.

101 West Ohio Street
Suite 1580
Indianapolis, Indiana 46204
Phone: 317-608-0250

National Association of Women Business Owners NAWBO Indiana website

Greater Lafayette Commerce offers the resources and skills you need to be successful in your journey.

Individual and group programs include:

Ask the Experts - The membership of Greater Lafayette Commerce is teaming with experienced professionals who have the skills you’re looking for to help you overcome challenges, and provide you with perspective and direction.

Customer Experience - The program teaches service language and communication and increasing customer-centric thinking. It seeks to improve hospitality skills of anyone who works with customers or tourists in the Greater Lafayette area.

Elite Excel - Attend cohort workshops with industry professionals which supply you and your leadership team with the tools and strategies needed to manage, change, and advance your business.

Peer Offered Development Strategies - Each PODS group consists of eight to twelve, noncompeting, second stage business owners or executives working together with a facilitator to solve complex business problems, share examples of success, and hold each other accountable.

Storefront Strategies - Storefront Strategies workshops help businesses acquire customers, tailor customer experiences to their base, expand their business networks, and provide information on how to source local products and talent.

337 Columbia Street
Lafayette, Indiana 47901
Phone: 765-742-4044

Greater Lafayette Commerce website

The U.S. Small Business Administration helps small businesses to get the funding they need. Funding resources include:

Loans - Start or expand your business with loans guaranteed by the SBA.

Investment capital - Find an investor for your business. Investors make both debt and equity investments.

Disaster assistance - Get help after a disaster with low-interest disaster loans.

Surety bonds - Protect your work and your client with an SBA-guaranteed surety bond.

Grants - Look for government grants that help businesses do scientific research and development.

U.S. Small Business Administration funding website

The Central Indiana Women’s Business Center (CIWBC) is a cooperative program between the U.S. Small Business Administration and the Indy Chamber. It is designed to promote the creation and growth of businesses by women entrepreneurs by providing access to capital.

The CIWBC offers loans and financing that aren’t available through traditional lenders—and with amounts ranging from $1,000 to $50,000+, they have you covered, whatever your need may be.

111 Monument Circle
Suite 1950
Indianapolis, Indiana 46204
Phone: (317) 464-2245

Central Indiana Women’s Business Center CIWBC website

The Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees. It is ranked among the top 30 business schools in the United States for graduate and MBA programs by Bloomberg Businessweek, Forbes, and U.S. News & World Report. The Mendoza College of Business offers five majors in the undergraduate program and eight distinct graduate degrees.

The Business School has launched ND Elevate: Women in Leadership, a pilot program directly aimed at empowering women to take the next step in their professional journey by developing knowledge and skills relating to resilience, negotiation, presence and authenticity, while also recognizing intersectionality.

204 Mendoza College of Business
Notre Dame, Indiana 46556
Phone: 574-631-7236

University of Notre Dame Mendoza College of Business website

The Mitchell E. Daniels Jr. School of Business at Purdue University offers instruction at the undergraduate, master's, and doctoral levels.

The Brock-Wilson Center for Women in Business at Purdue empowers women to become confident leaders in the workplace. Through undergraduate and graduate courses, a speaker series, a learning community, and more, the center prepares women and men to lead and excel in both a diverse workforce and a changing social climate.

403 Mitch Daniels Boulevard
West Lafayette, Indiana 47907
Phone: 765-494-9700

Purdue University Mitchell E. Daniels Jr. School of Business website

The Indiana University Kelley School of Business, offers top-ranked business education with a global impact to undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral level students.

The Indiana University Kelley School of Business is the recipient of the 2023 USASBE Model Entrepreneurship Program Award, presented by the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE).

The award honors the institution with the most comprehensive, high-quality educational program that successfully trains future generations of entrepreneurs. It is one of the association’s Excellence in Entrepreneurship Education Awards, which recognize bold and innovative programs making an impact.

1275 East 10th Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47405
Phone: 812-855-8100

Indiana University Kelley School of Business

The Indianapolis Business Journal provides business and financial news from central Indiana and Indianapolis, updated as it happens. Breaking news and in-depth coverage of real estate, healthcare, banking and finance, diversity, sports business, small business, tech, and arts and entertainment, are among other important topics covered.

One Monument Circle
Suite 300
Indianapolis, Indiana 46204
Phone: 317-634-6200

Indianapolis Business Journal website

Headquartered in Indianapolis, Inside INdiana Business delivers business news content that can be watched, heard, and read by the business community in Indiana.

More people access the Inside INdiana Business brand for Indiana business news than any other source. With a fully-integrated portfolio of television, radio, Internet, and on-demand business news products, Inside INdiana Business delivers content that is trusted by the Indiana business community.

Inside INdiana Business focuses on topics related to Education, Health, Tech, STEM, Advanced Manufacturing and Logistics, Life Sciences, AG Innovation, and INPower.

1 Monument Circle
Suite 300
Indianapolis, Indiana 46204

Inside INdiana Business website

The Northwest Indiana Business Magazine publishes business-related news and articles about people and ideas that inform, inspire, challenge and educate local business and community leaders. They promote innovation, entrepreneurship, leadership and excellence in the Northwest and Northcentral Indiana business community, covering Lake, Porter, LaPorte, St. Joseph, Elkhart, Newton, Jasper, Starke, Pulaski, and Marshall counties.

905 Joliet Street
#237
Dyer, Indiana 46311

Northwest Indiana Business Magazine website