FACILITATING ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN DEPRIVED COMMUNITIES

Abstract

Using evidence from a programme of interviews with owners of small businesses, the possible problems which can arise for providers of support services when seeking to help potential entrepreneurs in deprived communities are considered. The focus is a co‐operative development initiative whose history is traced from its origins in the early 1980s, when the process aims of co‐operation were arguably as important as commercial success, to its current form with a more avowedly business ethos. The interviews had, as their principal purpose, to discover whether support could be provided and in what way, and what differences existed between assistance for the entrepreneur and the owner‐manager. A discussion of the distinction between entrepreneurs and owner‐managers provides a basis for analysing the firms in the study. Owner‐management rather than entrepreneurship is argued to be the more appropriate frame and support initiatives are discussed mainly in that context. Training, information (particularly from networking) and consultancy advice are considered as the principal ways of helping businesses of this type.

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