Fostering the Growth of Entrepreneurship in Northeastern North Carolina


What do we do about poverty? How do we reduce the poverty rate in our community? Evidence points to the power of entrepreneurship as a strategy for many to help eradicate poverty.

In Northeastern North Carolina, we face an uphill climb. As a region and as a community, there are a number of barriers that need attending to that only a more prosperous revenue base can overcome. Flourishing in the present economic environment with our raw talent, flavored with an agrarian culture and supportive community base, can happen with the right “community” approach and the right strategy. Entrepreneurship is that strategy.

The advantage of living rural is that creativity and innovation are second nature. To be an entrepreneur is to take your natural passion and make a living doing it. Your motivation to become an entrepreneur could be as a secondary stream of income or overtime, your primary source of income. Whatever your goal, being an entrepreneur can dramatically influence the quality of your life.

As a community, we have a role to play. While policy makers are working to help us, it will take the committed voice of the community to help them help us. Demonstrating our willingness to “wait no longer” and take charge of our own community and our own economic well-being, we can do such good work, to help build a stronger, more vibrant and robust region. This is the power of entrepreneurship.

We live local and therefore, we should buy local. And not only should we buy local, but encourage the development of enterprises to meet needs we go outside of the community to fill. Adding a community challenge to become communities of entrepreneurs, incites and inspires energy for work, innovation, and opportunities for employment, like never before. It is time that we send a clear and measurable message about our region, and that message should be in the form of a drop in our unemployment base made possible by local entrepreneurs.

Solving rural poverty and enhancing a community’s quality of life takes an enormous amount of effort. The power of entrepreneurship cannot be over emphasized.  Entrepreneurship as a job-creation  strategy may not fulfill your dreams or meet your expectations for the ideal unemployment strategy you dreamed of, but it is relevant and transformative.

The long-term nature of our poverty can be broken if the community, and the region support entrepreneurship. Fostering an ethic of entrepreneurship brings about a greater passion for self-sufficiency and curtails reliance upon outside public supports that challenge the full birthing of our God-given gifts and talents.

As a community, we have the power to help build a stronger more vibrant region. With our own grassroots action and effort, we can enhance our quality of life and that of the region. To help fight poverty in your community, become an entrepreneur. Support entrepreneurship. Your nearest community college can tell you how.