Evaluation of the Appalachian Regional Commission's Entrepreneurship Initiative

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Evaluation of the Appalachian Regional
Commission's Entrepreneurship Initiative

• Deborah M. Markley, PhD
• RUPRI Center for Rural Entrepreneurship
• Prepared for
• Entrepreneurship Where Practice and Theory Meet
• November 6, 2008
• St. Louis Missouri

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ARCs Entrepreneurship Initiative

• Operated from 1997-2005 with emphasis on
  homegrown business development
• Invested 43 million in 340 unique projects
  throughout the 13 state ARC region
• Jesse White, Federal Co-Chair Re-instill in
  rural America the idea that job creation,
  business creation, and, most importantly wealth
  creation, occur as a result of local indigenous
  business creation.

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Rationale for ARCs Entrepreneurship Initiative

• First explicit Federal program supporting
  entrepreneurship development
• Belief that strategic investments would help
  create
• More entrepreneurs in the pipeline
• Better informed and skilled entrepreneurs
• Stronger, more job-creating businesses

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Design of ARCsEntrepreneurship Initiative

• ARC made strategic investments in
• Youth entrepreneurship education
• Technical assistance and training
• Business incubators
• Capital access programs
• Sector and network support
• Designed to provide balance to economic
  development efforts, change the culture in the
  region, and anchor businesses and residents in
  Appalachia

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The Evaluation Approach

• The charge
• Examine project outcomes (for sample of projects)
  and broader policy impacts
• Identify lessons learned for policy and practice
• The approach
• Analysis of ARC-defined metrics for all projects
• Analysis of broader set of metrics for sample
  projects (88)
• Key stakeholder and case study interviews to
  identify broader policy impacts and lessons
  learned

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The Evaluation Team

• RUPRI Center for Rural Entrepreneurship
• EntreWorks Consulting
• RUPRI/University of Missouri
• RTI International
• Outside advisory panel
• ARC partners

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Evaluation Challenges

• Ex Post Some projects as old as 10 years and
  memories fade
• Self reporting Job and business creation
  verified through ARC validation visits
• Assessing qualitative outcomes Reliance on
  recurrent themes from key informants
• Diverse portfolio of investments Created
  difficulty in applying rigorous statistical
  methods such as comparison communities

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Quantitative Evaluation Results ARC Portfolio
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Quantitative Evaluation Results ARC Sample
Projects

• 11,500 students and teachers participated in or
  received entrepreneurship education
• 1,500 entrepreneurs took part in sector-focused
  activities
• At least 475 entrepreneurs received support
  through business incubators

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Qualitative Evaluation Results

• Investments helped to build a local enterprise
  culture.
• Investments helped facilitate networking and
  collaboration among practitioners.
• ARC dollars represented but for money for
  innovative projects that would not have been
  implemented otherwise.
• Entrepreneurship education investments
  contributed to changing attitudes of young people
  and their teachers.

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Lessons for Practitioners How to implement
successful entrepreneurship development
initiatives

• Successful initiatives had strong local
  champions.
• Strong local capacity (existing or built)
  contributed to success.
• Entrepreneurship recognized as a long-term
  process.
• Successful projects were flexible and
  entrepreneurial in terms of their goals.
• Partnerships and collaborations were important to
  success.
• Celebrating success was reinforcing.

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Lessons for Policy Makers How to Invest in
Entrepreneurship Development

• Capacity building should be an explicit part of
  program design.
• Investments should be made with a focus on the
  long term.
• Initiatives should be required to be market
  driven and practice continuous improvement.
• Investments should provide incentives for
  collaboration and partnerships.

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Lessons for Evaluation Measuring Impacts of
Entrepreneurship Investments

• Move beyond counting jobs
• Single metric cannot capture the wide range of
  impacts associated with entrepreneurship
• Consider portfolio of investments rather than a
  single project
• Build evaluation into program funding
• Define a broader range of metrics that capture
  impacts for local projects
• Require active participation of grantees in
  measuring success by training and supporting
  evaluation activities

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Lessons for ARC The Way Forward with
Entrepreneurship

• Become an advocate for entrepreneurship
  development as an asset-based strategy in the
  region Making the case to local elected
  officials, economic developers, etc.
• Fund an Entrepreneurial Innovation Fund to build
  on initial investments Support second
  generation investments that have potential for
  transformative impact and challenge fund for new
  ideas and concepts

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Concluding Thoughts

• ARCs Entrepreneurship Initiative was ahead of
  its time.
• Investments were catalytic, particularly in
  places with strong capacity to build upon.
• Non-profit sector practitioners who were already
  invested in this work were elevated and
  encouraged.
• Projects in the region continue to contribute to
  economic development through the support and
  encouragement of entrepreneurship.

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Evolution of the Field

• ARCs Entrepreneurship Initiative Broke ground
  for the field
• Key participants in ARC-funded projects Led in
  creation of new models and approaches to
  entrepreneurship development
• Evolution in practice Evidenced by weaving
  together the components of a system
• The learning/evolution continuum Fostered by
  Kellogg Foundations EDS projects and key
  innovators across the country

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For More Information

• Deborah Markley
• RUPRI Center for Rural Entrepreneurship
• 199 Valley Meadow Drive
• Chapel Hill, NC 27516
• 919-932-7762
• dmarkley_at_nc.rr.com
• www.energizingentrepreneurs.org