The entrepreneurial atmosphere in Jay County and Winchester may have a better opportunity to flourish in the coming years thanks to an assessment of the two areas recently completed by a student group from Ball State University.

Through Ball State's Business Fellows program, students from the Midwest Entrepreneurial Education Center (MEEC) at Ball State assessed local business development opportunities by holding focus groups with business and community leaders and conducting intensive research. The Entrepreneurial Community Assessment Program was funded through a grant from the university's Building Better Communities program. 

"Not only do we want to assess the entrepreneurial climate in small communities, but we also want to motivate these small towns and cities to engage in 'organic growth,' or cultivating entrepreneurship," said Jeffrey Hornsby, a Ball State management and entrepreneurship professor.

"Most of Indiana's smaller communities do not have the entrepreneurship infrastructure that they do in Indianapolis and Fort Wayne," he said. "Smaller communities need assistance is determining what resources they actually have and what types of jobs they should be developing. It is a natural extension of what we do here at Ball State."

The project team conducted assessment in several areas, including:

• Identification of potential markets for business development
• Availability of funding for business development
• Availability of residents with sufficient education and skills to provide a base for future business development
• Assessment of barriers and facilitators to complete new venture development, including transportation, logistics and taxes

In conjunction with an entrepreneurship committee in each community, the MEEC staff will assist in developing an entrepreneurship action plan based on the project's findings.

Hornsby believes there is potential to transform a small community's entrepreneurial climate. 

For long-term economic health, communities can no longer attempt instant employment growth by going after manufacturers promising hundreds of thousands of new jobs, he said.

"In the past, Jay County was successful in attracting some firms to its industrial park, but every community in the nation is trying to lure the same companies," Hornsby said. "Now, they have to look at growing their own new jobs. We have to find out which company is in a position to expand and what they need to make that happen.

"Winchester is a smaller, rural community located near the Indiana-Ohio border, and it may be difficult to attract a high tech-firm with 150 jobs there," he said. "But Winchester is a great small town, and it's attractive. What they have to do is transform their small business infrastructure into one that will allow for local firms to expand and grow their own jobs."

In the coming months, Hornsby and the MEEC staff will conduct additional focus groups to pursue issues and get recommendations for future improvements. Faculty and staff from Ball State's entrepreneurship program also will conduct seminars in the communities covering business modeling, business feasibility and planning, marketing and financing ventures. Business activities also will be tracked for three years following the assessment.

In the fall, Hornsby will lead a similar assessment of Daviess County in southern Indiana. Ball State will help identify entrepreneurial projects, find markets, train people to market their products and help find funding for new businesses.

"In the end, the city of Washington stands to gain through increased business and development," Washington Mayor Dave Abel told the Washington Times-Herald March 31. "When the program is done, local entrepreneurs will have relationships with professors, business investors and others necessary in starting a business."

An assessment for Hamilton County, one of the nation's fastest-growing areas, is also being discussed.

About Building Better Communities

Building Better Communities is an initiative designed to spur economic development and quality of life advancement in Indiana by applying Ball State's strengths in applied research and hands-on learning to projects across the state. With financial support from the Indiana Legislature and Lilly Endowment's Business Fellows Program, Building Better Communities works to match university expertise and resources to the varied needs of Indiana communities. 

About Business Fellows

Business Fellows, funded by a $1.5 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc., gives Ball State students the opportunity to turn academic knowledge into business solutions through intense, semester-long applied work experiences that will benefit an Indiana business, industry or organization. The program works in concert with Ball State's Building Better Communities initiative.