Our numbers continue to tell that story, even with the influx of new members in the last part of 2021. Of the 855 members in the organization, nearly 50 percent have 1 to 5 employees or are individual members. Nearly 75 percent of members have less than 10 employees and 85 percent have less than 25 employees. Conversely only 3 percent have more than 100 employees.
So we obviously are interested in making sure that small businesses and entrepreneurs are successful. For Manhattan, the success of small business is the key to our community's long-term economic prosperity. For the Chamber, it is imperative to grow our start-up community for our organization to continue to be impactful in promoting growth and business success.
We make significant investments in a number of programs, most notably Spark MHK, a non-profit formed in 2020 to promote the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the Manhattan region; and the local office of the Small Business Development Center, an entity created to assist small businesses with a variety of needs.
The Chamber is focusing on these two entities at our regular business after hours on Wednesday, February 9, 5:30 p.m. a the Four Points by Sheraton. We will have Sarah Siders, executive director of Spark, along with new Manhattan SBDC director Nadia Arbelo in attendance.
This is a great opportunity to learn more about what you can do to help enhance entrepreneurship and small business in the community and meet two of our key resource providers.
Speaking of events, make sure and get your seat reserved for the annual meeting set for Feb. 18, at the Manhattan Conference Center. Register online, call the chamber office or contact Sharla.