Exploring Entrepreneurship in Your Region Have this slide up when participants arrive.

Overview Review concepts presented/learned from homework videos, PowerPoint Map the existing entrepreneurship ecosystem in the region Conduct a regional assessment of the entrepreneurship ecosystem Develop a plan of action to enhance the ecosystem Briefly overview the topics to be discussed in this section. Time: - 1 minute Supplies: None Handout: None

Why Create Businesses to Grow Jobs? Number of Establishments by Employment Size 2000 2011 Stage Establishments Proportion Stage 0 2,656 27.0% 4,265 29.8% Stage 1 5,291 53.9% 8,362 58.3% Stage 2 1,719 17.5% 1,574 11.0% Stage 3 144 1.5% 118 0.8% Stage 4 15 0.1% Total 9,825 100% 14,334 100.0% Number of Jobs by Establishment Stages Year 2001 2011 Stage 0 2,656 4,265 Stage 1 19,845 26,249 Stage 2 44,284 40,192 Stage 3 25,166 22,301 Stage 4 22,567 19,054 Total 114,518 112,061 Sales ($ 2011) by Establishment Stages Year 2001 2011 Stage 0 314,121,481 311,229,386 Stage 1 2,374,185,018 2,091,733,596 Stage 2 5,165,733,452 3,585,000,539 Stage 3 3,115,060,907 2,227,549,112 Stage 4 2,591,496,714 1,177,048,361 Total 13,560,597,573 9,392,560,994 This data is contained in the Regional Snapshot provided to the region in Session 2. The facilitator needs to update the data contained on this side with the appropriate data (Section 5 – Establishments), and walk the participants through it. The facilitator will want to remind the region what the stages represent (categories defined by # of employees; stage 0 = no employees, stage 1 = 1-9, stage 2 = 10-99, stage 3 = 100-499, stage 4= 500+). Observations should be made around the growth in establishes across stages 0 and 1 between years presented, the % of total employment these stages represent and the amount of sales captured by firms in these stages.

What Does It Look Like to Support Entrepreneurs? This slide contains the titles of several of the videos that the participants are supposed to watch prior to attending this session. As the facilitator transitions into this part of the session, it would be wise to find out who actually watched the videos. If a majority did so, then the facilitator will guide the participants through a conversation about what they learned about entrepreneurship from them. If the majority did not watch the videos, the facilitator can choose to show some of them to provide the base knowledge of entrepreneurship necessary to complete the module; this will require additional time!! As a minimum, the “Fountain Square: From Down and Out to Up and Coming!” and “How to Open a Restaurant/Restaurant Business” should be shown. The questions associated with each video will provide some initial questions to start the conversation; the facilitator should also make sure that any business owners invited to the session should share from their personal experience how easy or hard it was to get their business “off the ground” in the region. The idea is to help the participants to begin thinking about the entrepreneurial ecosystem that exists (or not) in their region.

Entrepreneur & Small Business Development Components of Success Networks, Mentoring and Coaching Training & Technical Assistance Youth Entrepreneurship Access to Capital Supportive Environment This slide, taken from the presentation that the participants should have watched as homework, is to remind the participants about the components of a region’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. As the facilitator, briefly remind the participants what each component is/represents, as follows: Access to capital – Capital may be available, but the real question is accessibility. Capital, if it is available and accessible, should be in the form most useful for the stage of business development - debt, quasi-equity, and equity through commercial, community development financial institution (CDFI), and public sources (federal, state). Supportive environment – A supportive environment includes creating community and civic environments that celebrate and support entrepreneurs. Entrepreneur networks, mentoring and coaching – This can include facilitating informal gatherings of entrepreneurs to share experiences and information, connecting entrepreneurs with experienced mentors, or offering coaching expertise to help entrepreneurs through specific business phases. Training and technical assistance – This should include the creation of a system of advice, expertise and training appropriate to the needs of entrepreneurs. The source can be public, private, educational or nonprofit agencies. Youth entrepreneurship – Such programs excite young people in schools, community colleges and universities about the possibilities of creating their own businesses. This assists with building the pipeline of future entrepreneurs in your region.” Once you’ve gone through the 5 components, the participants should be read to tackle the next task – to map the resources and entrepreneurs of their region! Provide the participants with the handout of the Iowa Entrepreneurial Scene from the Kauffman Foundation’s Thoughtbook2015 as an example.

Charting the Region’s Entrepreneurial Ecosystem To facilitate this exercise, handout a copy of the diagram to participants and give them 5-8 minutes to write down all the components of an entrepreneurial ecosystem in the region of which they are aware.

Assessing the Effectiveness of Our Region’s Entrepreneurship Ecosystem

Drafting Your Regional Plan of Action “Good plans shape good decisions. That's why good planning helps to make elusive dreams come true.” Lester Robert Bittel