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. (Ed. Note: Very intriguing idea)
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.
[...]
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.
Can we improve on this? Yes, but this is the template.
Monday, July 21, 2008
EKU Offers Grad Level Course on the New Economy
Great course offering from EKU. If you want to understand the New Economy and New Economy companies' value proposition better (they are different, after all, from the value proposition of many old economy companies), this would be a great way to learn: 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 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.
Cross Posted at the KY Entrepreneurial Coaches Institute Blog: http://www.kybizcoach.blogspot.com/
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.
Cross Posted at the KY Entrepreneurial Coaches Institute Blog: http://www.kybizcoach.blogspot.com/
Art Croft Creative Center Offers Refuge for Artists in Rural Kentucky
When people talk about the new economy today one of the topics you hear discussed quite frequently is creativity. Daniel Pink has written that Americans should cultivate the right side of their brain to flourish in the New Economy: "To flourish in this age, we'll need to supplement our well-developed high tech abilities with aptitudes that are "high concept" and "high touch." High concept involves the ability to create artistic and emotional beauty, to detect patterns and opportunities, to craft a satisfying narrative, and to come up with inventions the world didn't know it was missing. High touch involves the capacity to empathize, to understand the subtleties of human interaction, to find joy in one's self and to elicit it in others, and to stretch beyond the quotidian in pursuit of purpose and meaning."
Richard Florida, one of the leading thinkers on the New Economy, has posited that regions with a strong artsy feel are more likely to flourish than more traditional communities. (A thesis that has been somewhat controversial for some of its prescriptions, but one that nobody disputes at its core: namely that creativity is key to the new economy.)
And in an economy that’s increasingly splintered into a multitude of choices Chris Anderson showed us with his Long Tail thesis that when it comes to entertainment consumers “are going deep into the catalog, down the long, long list of available titles, far past what's available at Blockbuster Video, Tower Records, and Barnes & Noble. And the more they find, the more they like. As they wander further from the beaten path, they discover their taste is not as mainstream as they thought (or as they had been led to believe by marketing, a lack of alternatives, and a hit-driven culture).” The upside of course is that cultural niches, like Appalachian art and culture, can now find markets in places that would have impossible previously.
Enter Art Croft Creative Center, a center dedicated to creativity and artists in Carlisle, Nicholas County, KY. According to their mission statement: “Artcroft’s mission is to provide direct support to the artist and the community. The residency program allows literary and visual artists a rural and serene environment in which to work creatively without distractions. Support to the community is via arts programming, collaborations, small venue presentations, and partnerships.” By utilizing the web the center tries to attract artists into the area to stay at their 400 acre rural farm. Once there the artists have carte blanche to work on the projects of their choosing.
The Art Croft is helping create the New Economy by giving stimulus to those right brain thinkers Daniel Pink described as being essential to a modern economy. And in the process they're extending the essential elements of Richard Florida's vision- a trendy, creative community as a basic ingredient for the New Economy- into the central highlands of Appalachian, KY.
A footnote: A founder of the Artcroft, Robert Barker, is a graduate of the Kentucky Entrepreneurial Coaches Institute, a program designed to help provide mentoring support to entrepreneurs in rural KY.
Richard Florida, one of the leading thinkers on the New Economy, has posited that regions with a strong artsy feel are more likely to flourish than more traditional communities. (A thesis that has been somewhat controversial for some of its prescriptions, but one that nobody disputes at its core: namely that creativity is key to the new economy.)
And in an economy that’s increasingly splintered into a multitude of choices Chris Anderson showed us with his Long Tail thesis that when it comes to entertainment consumers “are going deep into the catalog, down the long, long list of available titles, far past what's available at Blockbuster Video, Tower Records, and Barnes & Noble. And the more they find, the more they like. As they wander further from the beaten path, they discover their taste is not as mainstream as they thought (or as they had been led to believe by marketing, a lack of alternatives, and a hit-driven culture).” The upside of course is that cultural niches, like Appalachian art and culture, can now find markets in places that would have impossible previously.
Enter Art Croft Creative Center, a center dedicated to creativity and artists in Carlisle, Nicholas County, KY. According to their mission statement: “Artcroft’s mission is to provide direct support to the artist and the community. The residency program allows literary and visual artists a rural and serene environment in which to work creatively without distractions. Support to the community is via arts programming, collaborations, small venue presentations, and partnerships.” By utilizing the web the center tries to attract artists into the area to stay at their 400 acre rural farm. Once there the artists have carte blanche to work on the projects of their choosing.
The Art Croft is helping create the New Economy by giving stimulus to those right brain thinkers Daniel Pink described as being essential to a modern economy. And in the process they're extending the essential elements of Richard Florida's vision- a trendy, creative community as a basic ingredient for the New Economy- into the central highlands of Appalachian, KY.
A footnote: A founder of the Artcroft, Robert Barker, is a graduate of the Kentucky Entrepreneurial Coaches Institute, a program designed to help provide mentoring support to entrepreneurs in rural KY.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Voice of Appalachia: Appalshop Registers
When Mike Bryant and I first brainstormed to create this site I don’t think either of us imagined we’d have a company registered that’s nearly 4 decades old, but that’s exactly what we got with Appalshop, our first non-insider registrant.
The gang down at Appalshop has been churning out “content”, to use a New Economy buzz word, for decades. From challenging documentaries to lively radio programs these guys are the voice of Appalachia.
And don’t let the fact that they once made a documentary about Richard M. Nixon’s first public appearance after he resigned the Presidency (in Leslie County, no less) fool you… these guys are both high tech and avid world travelers... students of- and sometimes critics of- globalization.
They use the latest tech to deliver the culture of the hills throughout the world and they travel around the world communicating with similarly challenged peoples as those who live in Appalachia. We’re proud to have Herb E and the rest of the crew down at Appalshop on our site.
The gang down at Appalshop has been churning out “content”, to use a New Economy buzz word, for decades. From challenging documentaries to lively radio programs these guys are the voice of Appalachia.
And don’t let the fact that they once made a documentary about Richard M. Nixon’s first public appearance after he resigned the Presidency (in Leslie County, no less) fool you… these guys are both high tech and avid world travelers... students of- and sometimes critics of- globalization.
They use the latest tech to deliver the culture of the hills throughout the world and they travel around the world communicating with similarly challenged peoples as those who live in Appalachia. We’re proud to have Herb E and the rest of the crew down at Appalshop on our site.
Three Breathitt County IT Entrepreneurs Register First
Our New Economy Census page is already home to three Breathitt County IT firms. Whodathunkit? THREE I-T FIRMS IN JACKSON, KENTUCKY!
Here they are:
The tech guru behind this project, Mike Bryant and his company Dogwood Technologies (Company web site: http://www.dogwoodtech.net/)
Jarad Fugate, who’s slaved away for months getting this project going. Jarad is Breathitt County’s technology Wunderkind… see, ConnectKy told us so! Jarad is the owner of Clarion Solutions, LLC (Company web site: http://www.clarionky.com/)
And last but certainly not least, fellow Leslie County native Travis Smith’s Prosum Tech (Company web site: http://www.prosumtech.com/)
Here they are:
The tech guru behind this project, Mike Bryant and his company Dogwood Technologies (Company web site: http://www.dogwoodtech.net/)
Jarad Fugate, who’s slaved away for months getting this project going. Jarad is Breathitt County’s technology Wunderkind… see, ConnectKy told us so! Jarad is the owner of Clarion Solutions, LLC (Company web site: http://www.clarionky.com/)
And last but certainly not least, fellow Leslie County native Travis Smith’s Prosum Tech (Company web site: http://www.prosumtech.com/)
Check Out Our Web Site Too
It's located at: http://www.ekyneweconomy.org/.
Special thanks to Breathitt County companies Dogwood Technologies and Clarion Solutions, LLC for their donated effort at this site.
Special thanks to Breathitt County companies Dogwood Technologies and Clarion Solutions, LLC for their donated effort at this site.
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