Spreading the Power of Entrepreneurial Thinking Statewide in North Carolina
March 4, 2021
This piece was written by ELI contributor Sarah Williamson. She is working on interviewing some of our most accomplished partners and facilitators. Daisy Magnus-Aryitey doesn’t love public speaking, but you would never know it from her enthusiastic demeanor when she starts to talk about the importance of an entrepreneurial mindset. Magnus-Aryitey, an Ice House Facilitator, is the program director for the NC IDEA Foundation. The foundation fosters North Carolina’s economic development by supporting the entrepreneurial…
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NetWork Kansas Builds Entrepreneurial Thinking Through E-Communities
February 23, 2021
All across Kansas, residents are taking a deep dive into entrepreneur-led development thanks to NetWork Kansas and its E-Commerce Programs. Over the past 18 years, 75 e-communities have been established in the state’s 105 counties, providing $21.5 million to businesses and leveraging an additional $99.2 million (via bank loans, owner down payments, resource partner loans, and more). In addition to financial assistance, e-communities have played a significant role in changing how people think about…
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Go Before You Know: The Power of Learning Through Doing
February 18, 2021
The stories behind many large, established businesses—from Waste Management to Walmart—often start the same way. A young person, motivated by a good idea, pursues small, uncertain niche opportunities. They do so without much capital, research, industry experience, or contacts. How does this happen? How does an inexperienced, cash-strapped entrepreneur manage to transform an unrecognizable idea into a sustainable success? Hint: It isn’t a propensity for taking risks. Origins and Evolutions of New Business Researcher…
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The Role of Curiosity in an Entrepreneurial Mindset
February 11, 2021
As children, all of us started life with a voracious appetite for knowledge. The more surprises we encountered in our everyday life, the more eager we were to figure out what was going on. But over time, we became less curious. According to author and psychologist Susan Engel, preschoolers between the ages of 3 and 5 will ask their parents between 25 and 50 questions per hour, yet they will ask less than two…
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The Choice Is Yours: How Do We Respond to Adversity?
February 10, 2021
The ability to choose the way we respond to our individual circumstances is perhaps the single most powerful ability we have as human beings. Yet it is often misunderstood and under-appreciated. Some may see this topic as diminishing the difficult circumstances many people face. The goal of this post is to unpack the ability to empower ourselves by tapping into this powerful human ability, to respond rather than react. It is also a fundamental…
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