Page 233 - 1-Entrepreneurship and Local Economic Development by Norman Walzer (z-lib.org)

222 Don Macke

• Most of these systems see importance in youth entrepreneurship. They
understand that youth can and do play an important role in trans-
forming culture. These initiatives represent a long view and commit-
ment to the future and realize that bottom line economic impact met-
rics come slowly from youth entrepreneurship. These systems believe,
however, that youth strategies can improve the culture for an entrepre-
neurial economy over time.
• Many of these systems engage in civic entrepreneurship. They are col-
laborative, network well, and link to strategic partnerships. Coastal En-
terprises, Inc. cannot, on its own, attract venture capital to Maine, but
it has learned how the venture markets work in Boston and how to link
deals with investors. In turn, these systems build civic capacity to sup-
port entrepreneurial development.
• All of these systems are entrepreneurial themselves. They are led by
strong entrepreneurs seeking to change their worlds. Their visions are
expansive, and they are more interested in systemic change than sim-
ply organizational survival.
• Most of the systems are very good at optimizing available public and
private resources. They aggressively explore how various programs
from community banking to the federal government’s New Markets
Tax Credits can be used to advance mission priorities.
• All of the systems understand their markets. They know the cultures
and communities where they labor. This deep knowledge allows them
to build appropriate strategies that work with area cultures.
• Finally, most of these established systems engage in policy develop-
ment and advocacy by advising public policymakers (ranging from lo-
cal to federal) on how policies and programs can be more helpful in
building entrepreneurial cultures in their landscapes.

A very positive thing is happening at the dawn of the twenty-first century.
Interest and exploration of entrepreneurial development is showing up
throughout North America and rural regions from Scotland to Western Aus-
tralia. The experience of five of these promising new entrepreneurial initia-
tives shows the breadth of these innovations.

Promising New Initiatives
Just six years ago, when the current research initiative began, very
little new entrepreneurial activity could be identified. Yes, there were
programs, organizations, and places that were experimenting, but the
field was still emerging and was poorly defined. In only a half-decade,
there has been an explosion of activity as demonstrated by five prom-
ising new initiatives that highlight this new movement in rural devel-
opment: