Have you ever wondered what your community’s capacity might be for cultivating or creating an environment where entrepreneurs can thrive? Before any community can begin to build on their strengths and opportunities to support existing and potential entrepreneurs, they must first assess the social and physical structures that are in place that can help cultivate local entrepreneurs. Examples of social and physical infrastructures include presence of entrepreneurship support networks, quality of the human capital (such as the education and skill levels of local residents), local business-support services, access to educational institutions, and technical assistance providers. Next, communities must assess their entrepreneurial capacity, something that can be examined in a variety of ways. Organizations such as the Kauffman Foundation and the Northeast Center for Rural and Regional Development have developed research-based indices to evaluate the entrepreneurial capacity of regions. Furthermore, there are several resources available through state Cooperative Extension Services that can help communities assess their strengths and weaknesses with regard to building vibrant economies.
The Entrepreneurial Community Quotient (ECQ) is one interactive assessment tool that specifically addresses a community’s entrepreneurial capacity. Not only does this tool enable communities to determine their ability to foster local entrepreneurship, but it also directs them to resources that can help them tackle current and emerging community needs that are impeding the community's ability to support entrepreneurship. The tool also can be used to benchmark communities’ progress toward building their community entrepreneurial capacity.
To see the Web-based ECQ, go to the following link: Community Support Test.
