Page 231 - 1-Entrepreneurship and Local Economic Development by Norman Walzer (z-lib.org)

220 Don Macke

Partnerships range from work with the Nature Conservancy (ecotourism
and landscape preservation) to manufacturers. This association has bene-
fited NI in pioneering work with youth entrepreneurship, small business
development, and sectoral development. NI was one of the first rural de-
velopment organizations to embrace cluster strategies. Today, NI is a pri-
mary player, stimulating and supporting an entrepreneurial culture in
northern Michigan (Bauer 2004b).
NI provides a variety of fairly conventional development corporation ser-
vices ranging from microlending, to entrepreneurial training, to peer groups
for existing growth businesses, to near equity financing and deal develop-
ment for larger businesses. It also engages in strategic community work. For
example, through its partnership with tourism interests, it has explored how
to shift tourism in the region from high impact and low value to lower im-
pact and higher value. NI is innovative and strategic in pursuing new an-
swers to this challenged region’s need for development.
NI has also been a pioneer in youth entrepreneurship. Its long-standing
and robust engagement with schools in the region has promoted entrepre-
neurship education within school walls and access to prime time with kids.
The number of schools and kids involved highlights the impact and effec-
tiveness of NI (Bauer 2004b).

Sirolli’s Enterprise Facilitation
Ernesto Sirolli, a well-known economic development speaker in the
United States and internationally, created the Sirolli Institute and Enterprise
Facilitation (EF) as a pioneering entrepreneur-focused economic development
strategy (see www.sirolli.com). Possibly one of the best opportunities to
study how EF works is in Kansas. The RUPRI Center for Rural Entrepre-
neurship, in partnership with EntreWorks, recently completed a multiyear
evaluation of Sirolli projects in Kansas.
The State of Kansas through its Department of Commerce became inter-
ested in EF in the 1990s. The State financially seeded five multicommunity
EF projects in rural Kansas. The Sirolli Institute was retained to design, train,
and support these projects. These projects benefited from EF’s latest learn-
ing and offered a great opportunity to see how EF could work in five rela-
tively different rural landscapes. The State required multicounty and com-
munity collaborations to come together as part of this pilot initiative.
Overall, one project (located in southeast Kansas) achieved especially sig-
nificant economic and social impacts. It enabled a very poor and econom-
ically distressed region to come together and stimulate development. At the
other end of the state, the Western Kansas Project struggled due to vast dis-
tances, limited entrepreneurial talent, and a decade-long drought harming
the business climate. Despite these challenges, this project stayed together
and realized important development results.