About the Covington Business Council

Local Business Networking 

We are a local business networking 501(C)(3) non-profit organization who believes in paying it forward, and helping our member companies connect with one another. Our goal is to expand our member's business network and give back to the Covington business community. We are local business networking that works.

The CBC is a business membership based organization with a mission to actively promote and build a positive business environment in Covington, Kentucky. As a CBC member you have the power of access, opportunity and growth. 

With over 440 business members in 2021, we are small enough to provide each member with personalized attention, yet large enough to be an advocate for each of our members when issues arise in the business community.

The Covington Business Council (CBC) empowers business owners and entrepreneurs to network with a purpose. If you participate in CBC events for local business networking, you most assuredly will grow your business and in turn, this strengthens Covington’s local business community.

De-mystify Doing Business in Northern Kentucky

Our goal is to provide each member with the access to be personally introduced to local business leaders who they actually want to meet.

View our member directory of CBC businesses that shape Covington.

What do you want for your business?

• High quality leads?

• More sales?

• To build your business name or brand recognition?

• Do you wish to meet new business connections that can help your business grow?

• Do you wish to meet a local business leader, a decision maker or local government official?

Share with us what you need and we will create a plan of action to help you grow your business network.

We Are Advocates For Your Business

If you are a small business owner in Covington, you can use the influence of the CBC to advocate on your behalf for local issues that affect you and your business, and to support you in building local business relationships.

Networking in What We Do Best

Each one of the Covington Business Council’s professional networking events and local business referral meetings are carefully designed to support the efforts of local entrepreneurs and business of all sizes.

The CBC is a great place to start or to continue to build your business network. When you attend and participate in any of the 100 CBC local business networking events annually, you will expand your business network and grow your business connections in northern Kentucky. The CBC is managed by a local Board of Directors who are CBC members themselves; who support local business networking.

We actively engage with your business to determine your goals for joining and come up with a game plan to help you achieve your objectives, so you can make a wise investment in the Council. 

The CBC Foundation

Our philanthropic organization, The CBC Foundation, Inc. is a tax-deductible community development corporation. The foundation serves as a catalyst for economic development in Covington and funds projects that promote a healthy business climate. Local business networking is an important part of assisting with economic development efforts.

about covington

The City of Covington is the largest city in Northern Kentucky and known for the re-development of its riverfront and skyline and its strong economy. Covington has the largest number of National Register historic districts (16) for a city its size in the State of Kentucky.

Covington is well known for many of its historic neighborhoods: Licking-Riverside, MainStrasse, Roebling Bridge, Wallace Woods.

Our downtown commercial area is home to many historical buildings. Incentives are available for those wishing to restore older buildings and there are countless on-going, successful preservation projects in Covington.

This vital urban community, across the Ohio River from downtown Cincinnati, is within 600 miles of 60% of the United States population, 58% of the country's manufacturing firms, and 59% of the nation's purchasing power.

Visit www.covingtonky.gov for additional information. 

Economy

The City of Covington, incorporated in 1815, originally encompassed about 150 acres. During the 19th century, the city prospered and gained in population and land area. It became a popular residential location for German and Dutch immigrants, as well as Cincinnati business people.

During this same period of time, the city of Cincinnati was developing even more rapidly. Cincinnati businesses took advantage of the curvature of the river which made it easier to land a boat on the northern banks. This aided in the growth of industrial and commerical businesses.

Covington has persuaded several businesses to locate or relocate within the city. In the 1980s, the development of an industrial park in South Covington brought businesses such as Atkins & Pearce, Esco Corp., White Castle Distribution Center, and Fidelity Investments. This created more than 2,000 new jobs in the city.

The RiverCenter Complex, a riverfront development project, has added the Embassy Suites Hotel, Marriott Hotel, and the Courtyard by Marriott; as well as over a dozen new businesses to the Class A office complex. 

Covington continues its meteoric development growth in the downtown and neighboring districts, evidenced by the more than a quarter of a billlion dollars in investment since 2014. 

History

In 1814, John Gano, Richard Gano, and Thomas Carneal purchased 150 acres on the west side of the Licking River at "the Point" with the Ohio River from Thomas Kennedy for $50,000. The men named their new riverfront enterprise the "Covington Company." The name was chosen to honor of their friend, General Leonard Covington, an American officer killed in the War of 1812.

The investors prepared a plat for the new city approximately five blocks wide by five blocks deep. The platted streets lined up with the streets of Cincinnati across the Ohio River, symbolically tying the future of the fledgling city to its larger neighbor to the north. The first five streets were named for Kentucky's first five governors: Shelby, Garrard, Greenup, Scott, and Madison.

In February 1815, the Kentucky General Assembly incorporated the land as the town of Covington. At the time of its incorporation, Covington and all of today's Kenton County was a part of Campbell County. Shortly after incorporation, investors began selling lots for the new city for $385 per lot. However, for the next 15 years, lot sales were slow and disappointing. By 1830, the young city had a population of only 715 and lot prices were selling for half their original value in 1815.