Growing from Within: How Rural Communities Build Entrepreneurship Ecosystems

Entrepreneurship is a proven driver of economic resilience in communities of all sizes. But entrepreneurs do not succeed in isolation. They need access to capital, technical assistance, mentorship and connections to markets. The organizations and structures that provide this support, and the relationships between them, form what researchers and practitioners have come to call an entrepreneurship ecosystem. Over the past decade, a growing body of work has examined how communities can build and strengthen these ecosystems intentionally. Most of that work, however, has focused on cities, where large populations, available capital and established institutions create conditions that rural communities simply do not have.

To learn more about how to mitigate some of these resource challenges, the Foundation provided grant funding to five rural Oregon communities and solicited their reflections on the strategy planning process. Their reflections as grant recipients reveal how dedicated funding supports community efforts and the challenges that remain.

Rural communities face a different set of conditions. Populations are smaller. There are fewer organizations available to partner with. Resources may be an hour’s drive away. The same individuals often serve on multiple boards and fill multiple roles. Personal relationships carry weight that formal agreements cannot match. Far less attention has been paid to how ecosystem building works in these contexts, since what succeeds in a metropolitan innovation district may have little relevance in a town of 2,000 people.

This study examined how rural communities actually build and sustain entrepreneurship ecosystems. It was conducted for The Ford Family Foundation to inform practitioner guidance and policy recommendations.

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