Entrepreneurial‘ Ecosystem
According to the 1985 Tears for Fears hit, everybody wants to rule the world. But in the business world, everybody wants to be an entrepreneur. And with good reason.
“ The sex appeal of entrepreneurship remains and grows,” said Ky Ekinci, co-founder of business accelerator Office Divvy in Palm Coast and organizer of the Entrepreneur Night events.“ It’ s still a buzzword, people are hoping at one point in their lives to have some kind of business going, and that becomes their passion or even becomes a greater business.”
While the idea of following in the footsteps of famous entrepreneurs such as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates continues to have broad appeal, the truth is entrepreneurship in the United States has been in decline, according to a report from the Congressional Budget Office.
The agency outlined three main reasons for the decline, financial issues, demographic changes in the labor force and regulatory barriers. For Ekinci, there is another crucial reason: inconsistent community support.
“ To a degree, I think a community can approach this culturally at least like a venture capitalist approaches investing in startups,” he said.“ What has been the challenge is local, where everything is government reliant.”
Ekinci said creating an entrepreneurial ecosystem is a key ingredient in providing fertile ground for those residents who want to take the necessary risks to bring their ideas to the market. And that includes being willing to fail.
“ One thing we know, government entities have no tolerance for failure,” he said.“ In that culture, failure is something to be hidden, but in entrepreneurship, 80 percent of the time, it will be a failure, and without embracing the failure, you can’ t have success.”
The willingness to fail is the foundation of entrepreneurship and is part and parcel of creating the kind of disruption entrepreneurs thrive on.
“ You need a combination of a foundation of business savvy, not necessarily an education but something and also being a fool and being hungry,” Ekinci said. Those are the ingredients for entrepreneurial success, along with a bit of luck.
Creating a broader public / private entrepreneurial ecosystem is something Joe Roy, president and CEO of the Coastal Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center thinks about every day.
“ Our ecosystem should include county and city
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