Laserfiche WebLink
Draft 1.1 -- Not for Distribution or Circulation <br />• Mentorships A system can be set up to link new or struggling entrepreneurs <br />with established businesspeople. The biggest facilitator of relationships with <br />retired businesspeople in the United States, though with no particular focus on <br />local businesses, is SCORE. In Kerala, India, there is a massive statewide <br />program linking older and younger businesspeople called "Life Begins at 55." <br />• Entrepreneurship University – The University of Phoenix has demonstrated the <br />viability of teaching closes online. Either alone or in partnership with existing <br />programs, Cabarrus County could set up entrepreneurship courses appropriate for <br />local- businesses and recruit participants throughout North Carolina— perhaps <br />through the South. <br />• Incubators – While nearly all of the 1,000 incubators in North America depend <br />on outside support, models exist – in Australia, for example – of well -run, <br />financially self- supporting incubators. These can be open to all kinds of <br />businesses or they can specialize, like the community kitchens for food businesses <br />pioneered by AceNet of Athens, Ohio. To become self- financing and expand, the <br />incubator could work with each incubated company issue local stock, and then <br />upon graduation claim 5 -10 percent of the shares as payment for its services. This <br />could increasingly be done for virtually incubated companies (with the incubator <br />claiming a smaller percentage of the stock). <br />Next Steps <br />Part II of this paper, out before the end of the year, will contain an assessment of <br />strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) that should guide the <br />particulars of a local - living- economy approach to economic development. In recent <br />months, the author has spoken with several dozen key people in the county to make the <br />SWOT analysis, including policymakers, business people, and grassroots leaders. Their <br />views will be summarized and analyzed. <br />A third part of the paper, out in early 2012, will analyze the home -based business sector, <br />based on interviews currently being done. The paper also will make a prioritized list of <br />recommendations, based on all three parts of the analysis. <br />39 <br />1 -4 <br />Attachment number 1 <br />Page 341 <br />