Institute Gathers at Horseshoe Bend

Just past where the blacktop ends you'll find a hidden treasure in Kentucky's up and coming wine scene. Go off the beaten path in Willisburg, KY and spend an afternoon at Horseshoe Bend Vineyard and Winery with the Karsner family, just as the Fellows and Alumni of the Kentucky Entrepreneurial Coaches Institute did last weekend.

Our outing at Horseshoe Bend brought together members of the current class of Fellows and alumni group for an afternoon of great food, wine and networking. There's so much to be shared among the Fellows from Northeastern and South Central Kentucky! Throughout the past four years we've seen many exciting developments and outgrowths of the Institute. Our alumni continue to give back to the region and push entrepreneurship while our current class is well on its way. We're glad to provide opportunites for the groups to connect, share ideas and develop partnerships as we work to make Kentucky the destination of choice for entrepreneurs. This is one of many collaborative efforts that will surface in the years to come.

So, if you were unable to join us at Horseshoe Bend last weekend I'd like to encourage you to take a "staycation" and visit the Karsner family one Saturday. The view alone is worth the drive! Horseshoe Bend was founded in Washington County in 1986 and has been opperating as a vineyard since 1997. The family began bottling wine a year and a half ago and have opened for tastings on Saturdays.

In the mean time, visit our social networking site (yes alumni, you'll be asked to join) and view some photos from the big day. You can view the album online at: http://kycoaches.ning.com/index.php/photo/photo/slideshow?albumId=2022249%3AAlbum%3A1941. We look forward to seeing you all again soon as we come together for an Alumni Event on September 10-11, 2008 in Maysville!

Don McNay Preaches the Virtues of Entrepreneurship

I spend quite a bit of time on these pages railing about the importance of entrepreneurship. Skills in small business (and enterprises in general) will be crucial for millions of American as our economy changes from one that favored big industry to one that smiles more brightly on small business. The reasons are simple: globalization and technology. Our economy is moving away from one that favored capital investment to one that favors human capital.

Don McNay gets that. Here are snips from his most recent op-ed, the entirety of which I strongly suggest folks read:

Every person in the financial world has skills that can be transferred to a business they own. Media people have a “brand name” with the public. Both groups can take the skills honed at large institutions and use them to make their own fortune.

Entrepreneurs in the next generations won’t have the opportunity of training at a large company. They will have to start business for themselves from day one, instead of learning their craft from experienced hands with vast resources.

[…]

In 1900, only 10 percent of Americans worked for large companies. The other 90 percent were self-employed farmers and shop owners. By 1970, the number of people working for large companies reached 90 percent.

It’s been dropping every year since 1970. We are on a steady march back to that 10 percent number. The recent economy is quickening that march.

So what do we do about it? McNay notes that it’s a challenge to prepare folks used to working for a big business to run their own business. But as he says: “it’s a challenge that must be met.”

But how? For starters, we need to get it. I really think that Governor Beshear gets it. (I'm not saying others didn't, but I think he gets it even more.) He preaches the gospel of growing Kentucky companies here in the state rather than recruiting them from elsewhere. If you read press releases from the Cabinet for Economic Development you’ll see that the Guv is relentlessly on message about the need to grow companies organically.

We should build on this kind of attitude. Pols should actively preach the virtues of that funny French word entre-pruh-neur-ship. That’s important. Because an entrepreneur is more than a small business owner. An entrepreneur is someone who creates new enterprises, taps new markets, does things innovatively.

In the legislature there are periodic attempts to promote math and science education in schools. What about entrepreneurship? The Kentucky Entrepreneurial Coaches Institute has long advocated for and actually implemented on a smaller scale youth e’ship programs. It’s time we get serious about these here in KY. Pols could play a vital role in the promotion of e’ship here in the bluegrass. Their bully pulpit and the fact that Kentuckians still look to them to do things to foster economic growth means that they can spread this message with ease.

Further, we should evaluate the myriad economic development programs and agencies in KY to see which ones are and which ones aren’t promoting entrepreneurship. We have to let our children know that they should align their college education with the realities of this new economy. And kids should know that lifelong learning is a must. No matter what entrepreneurial endeavor you launch, odds are it will change, possibly even die, in this rapid new economy. This means that they must be nimble and flexible.

The dinosaurs are becoming extinct folks, but the mammals are rising in their place. Don McNay gets that: “When people decide they’re not going to depend on a big boss to hand them opportunity, it is a liberating experience. Like our forefathers, we have the chance to thrive in an environment where we control our own destiny.”

Cross Posted at the New Economy Census blog.

FEAT UPDATE

The FEAT board and county committees have worked together to plan a pilot tourism bus tour into the five counties. This bus tour will be a demonstration to landowners and local businesses as to what can be done in our communities to enhance the economy. The bus carrying approximately 40 tourists will come from Louisville Kentucky on I-64 with the first stop in the FEAT area being Carter County. Tourists will visit each county over the next five days. They will participate in traditional agriculture activities such as making sorghum at a mule drawn mill, making cornmeal on a grist mill, making jams, and jellies and churning butter to eat on fresh baked bread. They will watch, learn, and then participate in traditional dance. Evening activities will include Native American/traditional music around a campfire while roasting marshmallows and hotdogs, and dancing in the street to live traditional music. With directions from internationally known folk artists, they will create a work of art from a hand hued tobacco stick that can be used as a walking stick or a souvenir to hang on the wall. They will enjoy traditional foods such as "soup" beans, chicken and dumplings, mustard greens, corn bread and homemade jams and jellies. Care will be taken to provide for those needing or desiring diverse food choices. They will fish in a farm pond using cane poles and see such sights as water falls, caves, and learn about the cultures that have lived in this area through live exhibits along a pristine stream. A moonshine still hid deep in the cliffs of Laurel Gorge where revenuers can never find it will spark conversation as story tellers bring to life the industry that started NASCAR. The visitors will leave Wolfe County toward home on the Mountain Parkway with an "OH WOW" attitude. The greatest part about the whole bit is that local farmers and residents will get the bulk of the money paid by the tourists. The rest will go to the bus company.

A pending proposal to the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation, if approved, will fund a position for two years to manage the bus tours and recruit members for FEAT. We hope to grow the tours by five each year until we reach our max whatever that might be.

FEAT Inc. is a continuation of a mini-project from the 2005 graduating class. It’s had ups and downs but now seems to be on an upward swing.

Recently the Kentucky Arts Council awarded the Elliott County Extension District Board a $5,000.00 Arts Builds Communities (ABC) grant. With this money we plan to teach local people to write about interesting parts of our cultures and story tellers will teach them how to tell it to the tourists in an educational and entertaining format. The financial match is from the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation. The people who attend the workshops can, if they desire, enhance their skills, and maybe someday be listed as Kentucky Arts Council Roster Artists. These trainings will be open to people from Morgan, Menifee, Wolfe, Elliott, and Carter Counties.

Elliott County Extension District Board has also been awarded $113,000.00 from the Steele-Reese Foundation to fund an Environmental Educator at the Laurel Gorge Cultural Heritage Center for three years. That position will be announced in the next few weeks. So the winter’s long evenings filled with grant writing is paying off. I’m very thankful to the Steele-Reese Foundation and the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation for all the support they have shown to programs and projects in Eastern Kentucky. The ones mentioned above are only a “Drop in the Bucket” to the funds they put into community development and Education of Eastern Kentucky.

Recreational Entrepreneurs Create Tourist Opportunites for WW2 Enthusiasts

A couple of entrepreneurial activities around Appalachia that seem to have tourist potential:

McCreary County reenacts the battle in which their favorite son, Wilburn K. Ross, received the Congressional Medal of Armor. Battlefield reenactments aren’t new, but I’ve seldom heard of holding one a continent away. Could be the start of a trend…

Meanwhile, Middlesboro, which made national news for locals’ efforts to reconstruct a P-38 abandoned during WW2 in Greenland only to be brought back to KY a half century later, will receive a familiar if unusual visitor at its local airport when the Glacier Girl returns.

One thing that Eastern Kentucky has been blessed in abundance with is unused land. This, combined with the absence of local zoning rules, offers entrepreneurs- both recreational and for-profit- an easy opportunity to organize events such as these and bring tourists into their community.

Does anyone know of any rural communities that are looking for tourist opportunities? Coaches?

Small Businesses Need Innovative Access to Capital and Training in Business Competence

A few people around the world get it when it comes to economic development. They disdain bald protectionism and subsidies and emphasize what's really important to small bizs: access to capital and training in entrepreneurship. From the Jakarta Post, here's one of the leading business experts and economists talking about what Medium to Small (Business) Enterprises, aka MSMEs, really need:

I think the approach used so far in nurturing MSMEs has been inappropriate because most of the programs emphasized subsidies and protection from market competition. This is the wrong way to nurture MSMEs.

In our experience at Bank Mayapada, MSMEs don't need charity, subsidies and excessive protection. What they mostly need is easy access to financing and technical extension services (consultancy) on various aspects of their business operations.

They don't have assets as securities for loans and they are not comfortable with, and sometimes even hate, arduous bureaucratic borrowing procedures.

[...]

We design our lending programs specifically to meet the special characteristics of MSMEs. Hence, we don't focus on collaterals but cash-flow or revenue-stream prospects based on their business feasibility.

We have developed a body of experienced experts to assess the MSMEs' commercial viability. We have opened what we call the Mayapada Business Partnership in various areas.

These business units are assigned to look out for viable MSMEs, nurture them with financial and technical assistance and constantly monitor their development and their needs as they continue to grow and expand. Each business unit also operates as a complete business advisory center. We decentralize credit assessment and decision making to these units.

We expect to operate almost 60 Mayapada Business Partnerships before the end of this year and expect to lend cumulatively Rp 600 billion to MSMEs by the end of this year.

Our rate of non-performing loans in this segment is only 0.58 percent. This means that with the right approach, MSMEs can be viable, creditworthy borrowers able to give banks fairly high net interest margins.

To put it briefly, our approach is market oriented and designed to transfer not only financing capability but, and most importantly, business competence and entrepreneurship to MSMEs.

Here in KY, I think there are two great examples of programs that blend the need for entrepreneurship training and access to capital: the SBDC, which has a longstanding relationship with the Small Business Administration and the KY Innovation Network (I'll admit I'm biased on this one), a program that provides additional access to capital for New Economy companies and the hands on business training that entrepreneurs need.

EKU Offers Grad Level Course on Entrepreneurship in the New Economy

Great course offering from EKU: "If you are an entrepreneur, business owner, aspiring to create your own business, or working in an industry that requires entrepreneurial or innovative thinking and you currently hold a bachelor degree, EKU may have the perfect course for you. EKU is offering a graduate level course which focuses on entrepreneurship and innovation. If you would like to understand the ins-and-outs of entrepreneurship on a more intense level to help you gain a better understanding of business development concepts, then read further and contact: Jean Arthur at EKUMBA (jean.arthur@eku.edu)."

Here are some of the topics the class will cover:

The emphasis in the course will be on the role of innovation and creativity in the creation of new business enterprises, and in the management and marketing of new ideas, concepts, ventures and knowledge. The course will also include case discussions of business start-ups and exercises inside and outside of class to generate innovative business ideas.

The major project in this course will be the creation of a “business concept”. The business concept is a framework for a more extensive business plan that can be used to generate the interest of potential investors in your proposed business. It is somewhat less extensive than a full-scale business plan, but contains the same elements. This concept will be developed by each student, individually, or in a small group (2-3 students, max).

The course will cover the following topics. Some will be covered more in depth than others. Related topics can also be included, depending on the direction the class takes based on specific interests of students.

·The entrepreneurial mind –principles for creating a personal entrepreneurial strategy
·The entrepreneurial process - types of entrepreneurial ventures
·Idea generation, improving ideas, market opportunity analysis, new product promotion
·Methods for screening new venture opportunities
·Social entrepreneurship
·The business planning process - developing a business concept/plan
·Financing entrepreneurial ventures - obtaining debt capital
·Start-up & beyond – managing rapid growth, family e'ship, valuing a business, harvesting
·Intellectual rights - the patent and copyright process

This should be a class the KECI brings in house.

The Cavalry is on the Way...

I've invited a few folks to start blogging at this site on issues like rural life, farming, entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurial public policy. So far three have tenatively accepted:

1. Joel Combs, the subject of a previous post about his work with Mahindra Tractors at the Life of a Farm Blog.
2. Mark Sievers, a Lexington area business broker.
3. M. Sheldon, an experienced blogger and member of the 3rd class of the KY Entrepreneurial Coaches Institute.

Looking forward to reading their work when they have time to post. Thanks guys.