Entrepreneurship Development System (EDS) for Rural North Carolina
The purpose of the $2 million investment from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation is to build a comprehensive entrepreneurship development system for rural North Carolina, focusing first on the areas with the greatest need for entrepreneurial activity to transform their economies. The project focuses on impacts for entrepreneurs, service providers, and community leaders.
For entrepreneurs, the project will:
- Improve the level and quality of service to entrepreneurs working in rural places.
- Connect especially those in distressed and minority communities to ideas and opportunities.
- Refocus existing resources and public attention on rural entrepreneurs.
For business resource providers, the project will:
- Broaden and professionalize the service network.
- Provide scholarships to professional development, networking and innovation events.
- Articulate various niches of expertise and clear systems of referral.
For rural community leaders and policy makers, the project will:
- Develop new ideas and new engines for economic development that fit with local culture.
- Provide scholarships to entrepreneurship training with their peers from the region.
- Help them build regions that accelerate successful entrepreneurs.
NC REAL Enterprises is one of the 21 organizations working on this project.
