Energizing Tuscola’s Economy Through Entrepreneurship

What Is Enterprise Facilitation ®?

Through a number of statewide conferences and independent due diligence, county leaders identified a model of entrepreneurial development that stood out for having proven its effectiveness in rural communities all over the world. The effectiveness of this model has also been reinforced by independent studies conducted by the RUPRI Center for Rural Entrepreneurship in Kansas (2005) and the Denali Commission/Alaska Federation of Natives (2005). Using human capital development, Enterprise Facilitation ®SM was developed by Dr. Ernesto Sirolli more than twenty years ago and has empowered dozens of communities in Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Canada and the United States to start thousands of new and expanding businesses with thousands more new jobs.

The methodology of the Sirolli Institute endeavors to help communities capture the “passion, imagination, and resources of its people” to create and expand successful enterprises and local jobs. Tuscola County highly anticipates the opportunity and privilege to serve as the first Enterprise Facilitation ® project east of the Mississippi River, and to serve as an example and pilot for more projects in Michigan and on the East Coast of the United States.

Enterprise Facilitators work with a community-based board to provide free, confidential business management and networking advice to aspiring entrepreneurs and existing businesses.  The local Board of Management, made up of volunteer civic leaders, hires and supports Sirolli Institute training for a full-time Enterprise Facilitator.  The Facilitator provides the client with intensive, one-on-one coaching and networking with available programs and resources. This “bottom-up” approach compliments the efforts of traditional economic development practices and completes Dr. Sirolli’s “Two Legs of Economic Development”.

Past projects of the Sirolli Institute clearly indicate that Tuscola County’s geography (“drive time”) and population of 58,000 would provide significant activity and opportunities for many successful results. With an average return on investment of about $3,000 per job, such a project would appreciably enhance the work of the Tuscola County EDC, and surpass benchmarks used by both state and federal job creation/retention strategies.