3rd in a 3-part blog on actions that create an impactful entrepreneur ecosystem
Your entrepreneur ecosystem does not need a strategy; it needs a purpose (or probably multiple purposes). In my previous 2 Blog posts, I showed that many government agencies, foundations, and donors use the wrong toolset to plan additional funding to support an ecosystem. They follow global "Best Practices" that are based on other communities' strengths, or they use ecosystem analysis tools that provide limited insights or are based on biases toward Venture Capital. These approaches are helpful but do not unlock an entrepreneurial ecosystem's potential.
I have learned the best way to grow and support a local entrepreneur ecosystem is to find and support communities with purpose. Each ecosystem has a group of organizations and people with a strong passion for supporting entrepreneurs with a purpose. This purpose could support gender inclusion, small business, climate technologies, or veteran entrepreneurs. This passion for supporting energy ecosystem builders should help ignite others to join. The purpose is so important that MIT's D-Lab report on understanding ecosystems puts it at the center of an ecosystem. They highlighted purpose-driven ecosystems like social entrepreneurs in the food sector in Philadelphia that continue to drive progress in that sector.
Why support an Entrepreneur’s Community Purpose rather than a Broader Strategy
Higher return of Impact: A community of purpose is committed to its goal and is putting its resources toward that goal, so these are ecosystem initiatives with legs.
Collaboration: A common purpose naturally brings people and organizations to work on similar issues and tackle similar problems.
Facilitating actions
It’s hard to keep actors engaged in a multi-year strategy in my experience of doing this work for governments and donors. Ecosystem actors want actions to solve problems today, not a strategy. I understand people's opinions that actions without a plan are like traveling without a map. But those who work in entrepreneurship can relate more to poet Mike Tyson's reflections on a changing battlefield that needs adjustments. This is why getting an ecosystem to take action to build trust and learn and adjust is more important than creating strategic plans.
The lessons I shared 10 years ago in the slide below are still suitable today. Driving successful actions and broadcasting them will inspire others to join an ecosystem's purpose, creating the momentum for other actors to want to join the purpose. A flourishing ecosystem is a self-learning environment of actors, not a centralized planning organization. So put your plans away and start taking action to help communities driven by purpose.
My Entrepreneur Ecosystem Scaling Model from 2012
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