Page 168 - 1-Entrepreneurship and Local Economic Development by Norman Walzer (z-lib.org)

The Difference Makers: Entrepreneurial Young People 157

and thanks to its many supporters and volunteers, Putting Green is an in-
novative center for environmental education serving south central Min-
nesota.
Putting Green was designed as a youth driven business. In 2001, students
helped develop Putting Green’s business plan. Beginning in January of
2006, Putting Green began a unique collaboration with South Central Tech-
nical College to hold a twelve-week course entitled The Business of Putting
Green: A Course for Entrepreneurs. The course brings together high school stu-
dents and local business owners to learn what it takes to be a small busi-
ness owner, using Putting Green as a case study. Many of the students will
form an “owner team” that will manage and operate the park.

Highlands of Scotland
A final example is in the Highlands of Scotland where a Marketing De-
7
velopment Manager works with Rural Insights to sponsor the ICT Youth
Challenge. This is an interesting Information Communication Technology
(ICT) initiative to help young people develop ideas for ICT innovations and
successfully bring them to market. It is a bootstrap program that has grown
to capture the interest of partners such as Microsoft.
The Highlands of Scotland is very remote and economically distressed.
The concept of a youth ICT inventors and entrepreneurs program was de-
veloped as a way to revitalize the economic base of the region and create en-
trepreneurial career opportunities in twenty-first-century fields. The leader
believes that to successfully make this transition, young people must de-
velop ITC entrepreneurial thinking skills.
Young entrepreneurs from the Highlands give merit to the approach
Rural Insights is undertaking. One group of teenagers originated an idea for
using Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) tracking devices in cell phones to
help emergency personnel locate accident victims in a matter of minutes
even in remote and dangerous terrain. They are patenting the device and ne-
gotiating with major communication firms to license the technology.

EXAMPLES OF YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS

Examples of what young entrepreneurs can achieve are useful in starting a
youth entrepreneurship program, especially in convincing others to support
a local effort. The following young people are each following a distinctive
path as a young entrepreneur. Several have focused on developing their
businesses while others are involved in community activities that use their
creative talents and entrepreneurial passion. Many other stories in your
community or region can be shared with colleagues.