To foster entrepreneurship in rural regions, a New Hampshire group addresses both business needs and personal needs of clients.Women-owned business enterprises - New England ; Rural areas

Ashley Bliss

English

Research Papers in Economics

8    Spring 007
All entrepreneurs need certain core tools for success. A business plan, 
for instance, is essential for sharpening goals and providing a road 
map to the future. But for people living in rural areas, the difficulties 
of creating a viable business are often more complex than for other 
entrepreneurs.
Mavra Adams of Almost Edible Soaps in  
St. Johnsbury, Vermont, with an admirer.
by Ashley Bliss
Women’s Rural  
Entrepreneurial  
Network
The Rural Entrepreneur 
                          Overcoming IsolationCommunities & Banking    9
Sally Fishburn runs her woodworking business, S.A. 
Fishburn, Inc., out of Danville, Vermont.
  Women’s Rural Entrepreneurial Network was  
begun in 1994 by three women in the North Country  
who worked with unemployed low-income women  
on welfare and who saw a need for more job  
opportunities. 
Many of the unique rural challenges can 
be traced to one factor: isolation. Regard-
less of a rural microbusiness owner’s region, 
state, or town, sparse population is a serious 
barrier to success. She will struggle to find 
markets that barely exist, she will attempt 
to engage a customer base half an hour or 
more away, and she will feel very alone in an 
economic landscape that may have been in 
decline for decades. 
For some workers in rural areas, where 
salaries  are  not  usually  high,  starting  a 
business on the side is essential to supporting 
the family, and patching incomes together is 
common. For others, entrepreneurship is a 
way of breaking the cycle of poverty in what 
is  often  a  minimum-wage,  service-based 
local economy. 
Entrepreneurship can be self-empower-
ing. The task for organizations engaged in 
rural microenterprise development, then, is 
to foster that sense of empowerment. 
Holistic Assistance
Much  traditional  entrepreneurial  support 
is based on a model emphasizing technical 
assistance or training. Although flexibility 
has gradually increased, it is not uncom-
mon for entrepreneurs to be put through 
a predetermined program from which they 
graduate after a year and be sent off to run 
a business. 
The  focus  of  traditional  programs  is 
on marketing, cash flow, financial acumen, 
business plans, and other such practicalities. 
Rural  businesspeople  need  more.  Many 
benefit  most  from  a  multidimensional 
relationship with the organizations that serve 
them. They prefer an array of course options, 
and  they  appreciate  being  encouraged  to 
think about their whole selves. 
At least, that is the experience of the 
Women’s  Rural  Entrepreneurial  Network 
(WREN),  a  microenterprise  development 
organization  in  New  Hampshire’s  White 
Mountains that assists rural businesses—350 
businesses so far. WREN has gone farther 
than  most  in  offering  course  flexibility. 
Members choose only the portions of the 
entrepreneurial  curriculum  best  suited  to 
developing their particular business; and all 
programs are self-directed and short-term.1   
One advantage of this approach is that it 
reduces  costs  and  travel  over  long  rural 
distances—and cuts time spent away from 
the running of a business.
WREN was begun in 1994 by three 
women in the North Country who worked 
with  unemployed  low-income  women  on 
welfare and who saw a need for more job 
opportunities.  At  the  time,  the  options 
were  seasonal  and  service-based  jobs  or 
high-stress  nurses’  aide  positions.  Many 
low-income women feared taking such jobs 
and  losing  the  state  assistance  and  child-
care benefits that they needed to make ends 
meet.  A  training  program  to  teach  them 
how to be successful entrepreneurs seemed 
logical, and with a small grant, the WREN 
pilot program was started in Littleton, New 
Hampshire. 
After  the  first  year,  12  new  woman-
owned businesses were up and running, and 
by 1997, WREN had become a flourishing 
membership organization, with annual dues 
of $12 to support activities. It has continued 
to grow to 550 members in 13 states—both 
supporters and active participants. 
As WREN expanded, it moved to the 
neighboring town of Bethlehem, purchasing 
and  renovating  two  storefronts  on  Main 
Street.  The  headquarters  site  includes 
offices, a technology center, and a basement 
space for photo shoots. WREN has plans 
to  purchase  an  additional  building  with 
incubator  space  and  more  retail  footage. 
The empty lot next door will be converted 
into an outdoor marketplace.30    Spring 007
  The move to Bethlehem got WREN 
thinking  about  microenterprise  develop-
ment  in  the  larger  framework  of  rural   
economic  development,  and  it  began  to 
work with the town’s revitalization organi-
zations to uplift Main Street businesses. The 
efforts created a welcoming atmosphere for 
visitors,  and  through  collaborations  with   
local arts organizations, the creative econo-
my got a boost.
Reaching the Market
Isolation  makes  market  access  a  constant 
challenge for rural business owners, so orga-
nizations helping them need to go beyond 
standard marketing lessons. 
One idea is to operate a retail store, such 
as  WREN’s  wrenOVATION,  where  154 
artisans currently sell their wares. Another 
idea is a fine art gallery for individual and 
group  shows  by  organization  members. 
At WREN, having a store and gallery has 
generated more than half a million dollars 
in income, with 60 percent going directly to 
the entrepreneurs. 
Other ideas for helping people in remote 
areas  to  access  markets  include:  working 
with the state on getting broadband access; 
building an online business directory where 
members can post a business description, 
contact  information,  and  a  photo;  and 
creating  online  or  print  publications  for 
members to write articles or tip columns to 
attract customers. 
  Partnering with the funding commu-
nity on innovative programs for microentre-
preneurs is also key. For example, WREN 
has worked with Women and Company, a 
division of Citigroup, in a national program 
that creates small equity awards for micro-
entrepreneurs.  Applicants  are  required  to 
submit in-depth proposals that include spe-
cific project goals and outcomes, a complete 
budget, and a work plan. In the first year, 
WREN made nine $1,000 equity awards; 
in the second year, it made 10, in amounts   
between $500 and $2,500. It also tracked 
how  the  cash  circulated  and  found  that 
$7,500 of the $10,000 awarded ended up in 
the community. 
  Other  partnerships  include  work-
ing with the Small Business Development   
Corporation on helping clients to get access 
to banks and with MicroCredit-NH on a   
peer-lending program.
Becca Van Fleet of Becca Van Fleet Pottery in Eaton, New Hampshire, has built her business with the help of 
the Women’s Rural Entrepreneurial Network.Communities & Banking    3
Yoga and Beyond
To improve the overall quality of life and 
reduce isolation for rural entrepreneurs, it is 
also useful to let the entrepreneurs teach and 
take classes that are not necessarily related to 
running a business. WREN has several per-
sonal-development options, including yoga 
and aromatherapy. The gallery receptions, 
holiday parties, and brown bag lunches also 
provide opportunities for people to connect 
and feel less isolated. 
In  WREN’s  experience,  the  rural 
business owners most likely to have long-
term success are not always the ones with 
the most developed marketing plans or even 
the strongest bottom lines. They often are 
the ones with the healthiest outlook on their 
lives and on their livelihoods. Hence the key 
to  successfully  fostering  entrepreneurship 
in  rural  regions  is  to  use  a  multifaceted 
approach. Groups that do so not only help 
their members but also serve the broader goal 
of uplifting rural regions and economies. 
Ashley Bliss is communications director of 
the Women’s Rural Entrepreneurial Network 
(http://www.wrencommunity.org) in Bethle-
hem, New Hampshire. 
Portrait  photography  in  this  article  by   
Meghan Hamilton, Rodeo & Co. Photography.
Endnote
1 Technology classes include introductory and advanced 
classes in Microsoft Office, elements of graphic design, 
introductory and advanced PhotoShop, how to use a 
digital camera, how to edit photos, and how to use a 
scanner, a photo printer, and other hardware, as well as 
one-to-one project-oriented trainings. Business classes 
include  cash  flow  analysis,  beginning  bookkeeping 
skills, and budgeting. Marketing classes help members 
tackle challenges peculiar to rural areas. There are also 
in-depth seminars on Internet marketing. Other course 
options  include  introductory  html,  how  to  create 
business cards and brochures, and public speaking.
The  Colonial  Theatre,  the  nation’s  oldest   
continuously  operating  movie  house,  found  new   
life  through  a  partnering  of  WREN  and  the   
Bethlehem  Redevelopment  Association,  becoming   
a regional cultural center.
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The rural entrepreneur: overcoming isolation

http://www.bostonfed.org/commdev/c&b/2007/spring/article11.pdf

The rural entrepreneur: overcoming isolation

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