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Business Development

Entrepreneurs—people within communities who organize, manage, and assume the risks of a business or enterprise—are essential to building the economies of rural areas in Appalachia and across the country. Rural areas have traditionally lost their young people to big cities with more career opportunities. Those who stayed in rural areas hoped for big companies to come in to provide jobs. But small town residents have learned that big companies come and go. So, local businesses must find customers beyond town limits.

One couple in Wall, South Dakota did just that. In December of 1931, Ted and Dorothy Hustead owned the only drugstore in town. Wall's population of 326, mostly farmers who'd been wiped out by the depression or drought, couldn't provide enough business to keep the drugstore open.

Rather than rely solely on the town's residents for business, the Husteads took advantage of the Wall's major asset-I-90, a two-lane, cross-country highway that ran next to town. The Husteads offered free ice water to travelers and advertised the store regularly on signs up to 100 miles away.

Today the drugstore covers three-quarters of a town block, and serves up to 20,000 customers a day in the summer. (For more information about Wall Drug, go to http://plbdesign.com/SD/wall/index.shtml or www.walldrug.com.)

Wall Drug's experience is a good example of the type of entrepreneurial mentality that the Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education is working to encourage in young Americans nationwide.

Entrepreneurship in Action in Appalachia

ARC, a member of the Consortium, fosters an Entrepreneurship Initiative that encourages building a "culture of entrepreneurship" at all levels in schools. The Consortium believes that the entrepreneurial spirit is learned through a series of life experiences that can be part of the educational system. Some schools in Ohio are providing those experiences through entrepreneurship education.

ACEnet: Creating Jobs and Educating Youth

As a community economic development organization, the Appalachian Center for Economic Networks, or ACEnet, in southeastern Ohio, is committed to building a sustainable regional economy of successful small businesses that create job opportunities for low-income residents. ACEnet not only operates a kitchen incubator that links local food production businesses to market opportunities and works with organizations and businesses to develop effective sector services, ACEnet's Technology Ventures Division conceived and designed the Student Entrepreneur Training (SET) Program to provide entrepreneurship education to schools in the area.

Student Entrepreneur Training Program Provides Real World Experience

The SET© program provides high school students with the knowledge and skills to plan, develop, and start their own businesses. Students work through all aspects of creating a functioning business: determining legal structure, writing a mission statement, designing marketing materials (logos, flyers, business cards, Web sites), calculating business financials, and writing a business plan. After completing these tasks, students will develop a functional business. The goal is for student businesses to be operational and generating income by the end of the school year.

The SET© curriculum is student-centered. Teachers serve as guides or facilitators, helping students to create their own understanding of entrepreneurship through participating in a range of business activities and long and short-term projects. The latest technology is infused throughout the curriculum, providing students with a competitive edge in today's high-tech economy. ACEnet also provides extensive training and support for teachers and students.

In 2004 the curriculum will be taught in 20 high schools in several rural counties in Appalachian Ohio. ACEnet will provide 16 new computers and peripheral devices for each school.

SET Wins a Youth Entrepreneurship Award

In 2002 the SET© program was selected by the ARC to receive an Appalachian Youth Entrepreneurship Education Springboard Award, as one of six outstanding youth entrepreneurial programs in the Appalachian region.

Other 2002 winners included:

See the 2003 winners

For information about similar entrepreneurship education programs in Appalachia and across the United States, have a look at the online clearinghouse, Entrepreneurship Everywhere on the Consortium's Web site. If you have a program supporting entrepreneurship education at any level, please send the Consortium a profile using the format on their site.

This article was written by Cathy Ashmore, Executive Director of The Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education in Columbus, Ohio.