Rural Entrepreneurship Workshop
October 24, 2005
Royal Arkansas Hotel and Suites

Welcome / Overview

Thank you for inviting me to what I’m sure will be a most educational and constructive discussion. The City of Pine Bluff is excited to be this workshop’s host city, particularly because the focus of this forum, entrepreneurship, is something that can so deeply impact this community. We have a lot of things going on in Pine Bluff now:

Development in south Pine Bluff is continuing, with hints of more to come for the area. On the other end of town, construction on the Lakeshore Pavilion, which could very well be the seed for the revitalization of our downtown, is progressing steadily and the University Park Neighborhood Revitalization Plan (?) is moving ever closer to reality. Between the two, we have lots of room for entrepreneurship. Thankfully, the UAPB Small Business Incubator will be there to provide the knowledge and support to help our budding entrepreneurs turn their big ideas into reality.

Economy Supporting Entrepreneurship

Of necessity, an economy that supports entrepreneurship in Pine Bluff must be a flexible, modern economy. Agriculture and industry are still vital components of our national and local economies. But as economies are increasingly globalized and become ever more dependent on information technologies, we will have to grow the technology infrastructure and knowledge base Pine Bluff’s entrepreneurs will need to compete and be successful.

Also, Pine Bluff needs to be not just a training ground. Our local economy has to provide the kind of support…and our local government has to provide more help in improving the quality of life in our neighborhoods…that will allow Pine Bluff to retain graduates of UAPB and SEARK. All our residents, but particularly our young professionals, must feel they have a stake in this community before they will stay and before they will take the kinds of necessary risks entrepreneurship often involves. After all, they are going to make up the bulk of our pool of entrepreneurs.

Culture Supporting Entrepreneurship

Now, to do these things we need to change Pine Bluff’s culture; we need a partnership culture in Pine Bluff, a supportive fabric for entrepreneurs woven from the individual strands of the public and private sectors. That cultural change must include not only the tangibles that create success in business, but also those factors that might be less obvious. We must instill in individuals and associations…from the beginning…those character traits that make not only for good people, but also for good business.

All of these are things we must do. And we know we can do it. We’ve done it before. After all, this community was founded on small business and those kinds of enterprises are still the life blood of Pine Bluff.

The time is right. I think everyone in Pine Bluff…our local elected officials…our University and other educational institutions…our business community…our non-profits…our churches and…most importantly…the people of Pine Bluff…now recognizes what is at stake for our city and are willing to put forth the effort to make these changes and to demand the same effort from each other.