The most obvious answer is that elected officials and local business leaders need to be at the table. However, entrepreneurship thrives on diversity, and your community should form a very diverse working group to begin the process of building an entrepreneurial culture. This means your community should engage a wide array of people who are interested in and may already be supporting small businesses in your community. In addition to the traditional business leaders belonging to the chamber of commerce and other local business associations, you should also reach out to business and communications service providers, educational institutions (including higher education), women and ethnic minorities in business, microenterprise business operators, financial institutions, attorneys, accountants, community development agencies, local cooperatives, faith-based organizations, retirees, and youth. Although you may want to bring in experts from outside the community to assist with the initiative, the key to sustaining your efforts is to engage members of the local community.

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