In 2002, the Racine County Economic Development Corp., together with our development partners, completed the Racine County Economic Development Plan. Over the next several weeks, and with the help of The Journal Times, we will be reviewing the plan's challenges.

Today, we focus on Challenge 1 of the plan -creating an environment where individuals have the resources to start and expand small businesses. Efforts to address this challenge are led by the UW-Parkside Small Business Development Center.

From SC Johnson to Ruud Lighting, Racine County has a long history of invention and entrepreneurship. Over time these entrepreneurial ventures provided a base for job creation. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, small businesses produce between 60 and 80 percent of all new jobs annually, hire 40 percent of the nation's high-tech workers, and produce 13 times more the number of patents per employee than large firms.

As large companies continue to contract, Racine County needs more companies like IcTect. IcTect is led by entrepreneur Pradeep Jain, who started his software company with proprietary technology and has in less than a year grown the company to six highly skilled employees and a contract with the U.S. Air Force. IcTect is located at the CATI building in Sturtevant.

That being said, Racine County stands at a critical juncture. As history suggests, new jobs will largely only be created with new business formation. However, Wisconsin as a whole has not fared well in that. In the 2008 Kauffman Foundation Index of Entrepreneurial Activity by state, Wisconsin ranked 47th in the number of new businesses created on a per capita basis. Despite this there are a number of positives for Racine County moving forward regarding entrepreneurship as an economic recovery strategy.

First, the Racine area ranks 36th out of 357 metro areas in the number of patent inventors per 1,000 residents. This high innovation standing represents the seeds of ideas necessary for high-growth business creation. High-growth businesses represent a segment of business startups with the potential to be large employers and competitive on a national to global basis.

Second, even though the county is facing one of the worst recessions in American history, according to the study "The Economic Future Just Happened," more than half of the companies on the 2009 Fortune 500 list were launched during a recession or bear market.

Third, demographic shifts are enhancing entrepreneurship. In the recent study, "The Coming Entrepreneurship Boom," the continuing decline of lifetime employment common in regions of the U.S. historically dominated by manufacturing, combined with the experience and tacit knowledge such employees carry with them, suggests places like Racine County could be on the cusp of an entrepreneurship boom.

Finally, there exists a more focused effort on building an entrepreneurial ecosystem for the region. The UW Parkside SBDC, housed within the School of Business and Technology, recently led an effort of Racine and Kenosha county entrepreneurial service providers to create a strategic plan for increasing the number, quality and success rates of new ventures.

The strategic plan focuses on four key areas involving human capital, financial capital, research and development, and marketing and communications. In the coming months, the UW Parkside SBDC will be launching a series of new program initiatives geared toward meetings the challenges identified within the strategic plan.

For example, a Wisconsin Entrepreneurs Network study revealed that more than 50 percent of state residents are thinking about starting their own business or are in the process of doing so. However, all of the educational and technical assistance programming available to entrepreneurs is dependent upon meeting at a prescribed time and place.

This is not feasible for many. Thus, one objective will be developing and making available new online business training programs ranging from writing a business plan to identifying market feasibility for an idea.

While Racine County is ripe for entrepreneurial growth, what remains critical is our ability to focus resources and capacity on more high-growth businesses. Not only are they critical to creating and enhancing the job and tax base of Racine County, they also provide a critical mass of well-paid individuals and a need for services that local neighborhood-oriented businesses can supply. Without growth in this area, the market for these "mom and pop" entrepreneurs is limited.

Moving forward, look for continuing updates on entrepreneurial services at: http://www.parksidesbdc.com

If you or someone you know is interested in entrepreneurship, please call the UW Parkside SBDC at (262) 898-7512 or e-mail:

wagner@uwp.edu

Matthew Wagner is director of the Small Business Development Center of the University of Wisconsin-Parkside and of the Center for Advanced Technology and Innovation in Sturtevant.