Page 136 - 1-Entrepreneurship and Local Economic Development by Norman Walzer (z-lib.org)

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Building Communities through

Entrepreneurship Development:

Financing Entrepreneurs and

Entrepreneurial Support Systems

Deborah M. Markley

Most local economies are built on the efforts and success of entrepre-
neurs—whether the local pharmacist on Main Street or the homegrown
manufacturer on the edge of town. While nationally, small enterprises em-
ploy about half the private sector workforce and produce about half of pri-
vate sector output (U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy
2006), in a specific community, the importance of small entrepreneurial
ventures may be even more significant.
Increasingly, local economic development practitioners and other com-
munity leaders recognize the importance of encouraging these small entre-
preneurial ventures as a key part of their local economic development ef-
forts, and they are building entrepreneurial support systems to encourage
local entrepreneurs and to help transform the local economy.
The overarching goal of an entrepreneurial support system is to transform
a community or regional economy by encouraging the creation and devel-
opment of entrepreneurs. It is a human development strategy in that the fo-
cus is on entrepreneurs and on providing a nurturing support environment
that helps entrepreneurs create and grow businesses. The support infra-
structure that entrepreneurs need includes many parts—technical assis-
tance, training and education, networking with peers and mentors, and ac-
cess to financial capital.
This chapter focuses on access to the full range of financial capital in-
struments—from micro loans to venture investments—for entrepreneurs
starting and growing businesses in rural communities. The key to the effec-
tive use of financial capital is for an entrepreneur to have access to the right
kind of capital at the right stage of enterprise development, combined with
the appropriate entrepreneurial skills to use the capital to create and sustain

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