Missouri Conf: Where Practice & Theory Meet

ACROSS THE FIELD –– Being Entrepreneurial about Being Entrepreneurial
by Jane Leonard
We just came back from St. Louis, Missouri, and a University of Missouri-sponsored conference on Entrepreneurship – Where Practice & Theory Meet. Practitioners and researchers from across the country gathered to get updates on rural entrepreneurship strategies, including an assessment of the six regional entrepreneurship development systems demonstration projects funded back in 2005 by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

Minnesota’s Greenstone Group, led by Mary Mathews and the Northeast Entrepreneur Fund in northeast Minnesota, was also featured. A 10-year initiative, the Greenstone Group seeks to foster a culture of entrepreneurship and strengthen entrepreneurs through group-based learning, peer support and access to a variety of business services.

Check out the materials that were shared at http://mcquinn.missouri.edu/2008workshop/materials.htm including a great summary of the conference content by Brian Dabson, president of the Rural Policy Research Institute: When Practice and Theory Meet (Powerpoint presentation)

Also Elaine Edgcomb of the Aspen Institute, Entrepreneurship Development Systems: The W.K. Kellogg Foundation Demonstration (Powerpoint presentation)

And Deborah Markley, co-director of RUPRI’s Center for Rural Entrepreneurship, Evaluation of the Appalachian Regional Commission's Entrepreneurship Initiative (Powerpoint presentation)

Nancy Stark from CFED gave a talk on Rural Entrepreneurship Development Systems: Challenges and Successes in the Field (Powerpoint presentation)

from MN Rural Partners