Pathways to Rural Prosperity with Don Macke

In this edition of Pathways to Rural Prosperity Podcast Don Macke with e2 Entrepreneurial Ecosystems hosts Amara Kniep, Director of the E-Community Partnership with NetWork Kansas about the Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge and the VentureDash resource.  Energizing young people on entrepreneurship is a game changer for both personal life careers and cultural change in communities.  This episode explores the Kansas youth entrepreneur statewide competition and the associated VentureDash business plan completion resource.

In this edition of Pathways to Rural Prosperity Podcast, Don Macke with e2 Entrepreneurial Ecosystems hosts John Monson with Compeer Financial and Pam Bishop with the Southern

Minnesota Initiative Foundation (SMIF) focusing on the exciting partnership between Compeer Financial and the SMIF to expand REV (Rural Entrepreneurial Venture) in its home of Minnesota and into Wisconsin and Illinois.  Our conversation will explore the vision behind this collaboration and its potential to expand Entrepreneurial Communities initiatives in the upper Midwest.

Nathan Ohle is the President and CEO of the International Economic Development Council or IEDC for short. IEDC is the world’s largest economic development professional organization.  This podcast explores Nathan’s development journey, IEDC’s mission and resources and its growing commitment to all communities, including rural communities, and entrepreneurship.

In this edition of Pathways to Rural Prosperity Podcast, Kate Hodel, editor of e2’s newest book, Strategies for Rural Prosperity, hosts a conversation with Don Macke with e2 Entrepreneurial Ecosystem, book author. Strategies for Rural Prosperity captures over a decade of e2 field experience detailing in practical and useful ways 11 universal rural entrepreneurial development strategies including…

Spending Capture, Retiring Boomers, Natural Resource Industries, Commuters, Transportation Corridors, Tourism, Hub Cities, New Resident Attraction, Large Employer Retention and Expansion, Growth-Oriented Entrepreneurs and Regional Development.

When American ecosystem builders gather, we often talk about the entrepreneurial programs we offer to support entrepreneurs and their development. Programs and resources are essential for high-performing ecosystems. However, e2’s field experience is clear – do not begin with programs and resources! Begin working with area entrepreneurs, build relationships, learn about their needs and wants, and then network them to available relevant resources.

e2 and Shelley Paasch, of Kansas Main Street, discuss this approach as the entrepreneurial ground game.

In this edition of Pathways to Rural Prosperity Podcast, Don Macke with e2 Entrepreneurial Ecosystems hosts Tara Risewick, the new e2 (Entrepreneurial Ecosystems) Director.  Tara lives rural, knows rural and works rural.  Her family operates a chain of rural grocery stores, she had led a rural-centered community foundation, and now she is the next generation of e2 leadership.  In this podcast we introduce Tara, explore her personal journey into entrepreneurship work, and explore the future of e2’s North American work. 

NetWork Kansas (created in 2004) is most likely North America’s most robust, longest running and highest impact statewide community-centered entrepreneurial ecosystem-building initiative. Central to NetWork Kansas’ remarkable sustained level of entrepreneurial deal flow is its Entrepreneurship (E-) Community Partnership, launched in 2007. Erik Pedersen, President and COO, leads NetWork Kansas’ E-Community Program that now saturates many of both Kansas’ rural and, increasingly, distressed urban communities. NetWork Kansas’ Entrepreneurship Community Partnership is best in class and offers inspiration and learning opportunities for both rural and urban communities.

In this edition of Pathways to Rural Prosperity Podcast Shelley Paasch hosts Don Macke with e2 Entrepreneurial Ecosystems focusing on Entrepreneurs as Community Solutions.  When we think about entrepreneurs, for-profit businesses ranging from mom and pop cafes on main street to growth-oriented locally-owned manufacturing plants.  For all rural hometowns, community building related to housing, childcare, broadband and the like are very important. 

This episode focuses on how entrepreneurs can create innovative solutions for these community-building needs and wants.

GRO – Growing Rural Oregon: A Promising Rural Entrepreneurial Communities Initiative

In this edition of Pathways to Rural Prosperity Podcast Don Macke with e2 Entrepreneurial Ecosystems hosts Anne Kubisch, President of The Ford Family Foundation and Kathleen Flanagan with The Ford Family Foundation and GRO or Growing Rural Oregon.   Anne leads The Ford Family Foundation, a critical important rural community development partner in Oregon and Northern California. GRO is an exciting new entrepreneurial communities’ initiative rooted in rural Oregon.  Kathleen is the driving force behind GRO and The Ford Family Foundation’s commitment to rural communities through entrepreneur-led development. 

The Foundation’s story is special as it was created by a family with wealth generated from rural Oregon and Northern California in the harvesting and processing of timber.   GRO is on a short list at e2 of promising new E-Innovations.  

In this edition of Pathways to Rural Prosperity Podcast Shelley Paasch hosts Don Macke with e2 Entrepreneurial Ecosystems focusing on E-Communities and Workforce. 

Workers or human talent is foundational to communities and their economies.  For decades a worker shortage has been building in the United States.  This shortage is now becoming a crisis and in this podcast we explore ways rural employers and communities can grow their human talent and workforce.