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Regulation and Small Business: A Global Look
If you think starting a business is tough, try doing it in Haiti. Aspiring Haitian entrepreneurs have to wait an average of 203 days before they can receive a license to start business. That’s just one of the scary figures found in a new World Bank report entitled
Doing Business in 2004: Understanding Regulation. The report takes a detailed look at the costs of business regulations in 130 countries. This is not just about combating waste, fraud, and abuse; these regulations have a perverse effect on the economic performance of poor countries. Poorer nations regulate business the most; they have the most cumbersome rules in nearly every category of business regulation. These rules adversely affect productivity, and drive entrepreneurs to the black market. For example, in Bolivia, 82 percent of economic activity occurs in the informal sector. How should governments respond? The authors contend that in the case of business regulation, “one size fits all.” In other words, developing economies should cut regulations and adopt the minimal regulations used in the developed world. By cutting red tape, poorer nations can better stimulate and support local business development. The report also includes a useful list of country best practices in a variety of regulatory areas.
The World Bank study, Doing Business in 2004: Understanding
Regulation, can be accessed at http://rru.worldbank.org/doingbusiness/doingbusiness2004.aspx
New Venture Capital Numbers
New quarterly data on venture capital investments are out, and the picture is still not especially pretty. Last week, the National Venture Capital Association and Thomson Venture Economics released the latest assessment of private equity performance. Over the short term, private equity investments are not performing well. For the annual period ending June 30, 2003, private equity return was
-6.9 percent. The silver lining on this poor performance is that it represents an improvement over the
-15.5 percent performance for the annual period ending March 31, 2003. Venture capital returns have been even worse. Second quarter 2003 returns were
-27.4 percent. Clearly, venture capital investing should not be viewed as a short term proposition. However, long-term prospects appear better as average returns over a five-year (24.2 percent) and ten-year (26.2 percent) period are quite strong. The bottom line message remains similar to past quarters. While some anecdotal reports indicate that the venture capital sector may be reviving, investment data still do not provide independent confirmation for these more optimistic assessments.
To access the latest data on venture capital, visit http://www.nvca.org
Entrepreneurship: E-Learning Resource
Many aspiring entrepreneurs and new business owners are interested in accessing training, but often lack the time and resources for doing so. On-line training is one answer to this challenge. The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation (www.kauffman.org), NDE’s sponsor, and Cisco Learning Institute (www.ciscolearning.org) have recently announced a new product that should help expand the availability of on-line training for entrepreneurs. “Planning the Entrepreneurial Venture” is a blended on-line learning course that combines e-learning modules with hands-on work in the classroom. The curriculum is now being beta tested at ten community and technical colleges, and will be more widely disseminated to two-year colleges beginning in 2004.
To learn more about this initiative and to review the course for adoption, contact Tina Sterling at
tmsterling@att.net or 573-446-2673.
Biotech in Kansas City
Every region in the US seems to want to be a life sciences cluster and there’s lots of scrambling to be viewed as a national leader in the field. Thanks to some critical philanthropic investments, such as the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, the Kansas City region boasts many assets in this endeavor. A new regional study,
A Guide to the Life Sciences in Kansas City, examines how the region has advanced and where its future in the life sciences might lie. Not surprisingly, the report paints a positive picture of Kansas City’s life sciences resources. But, it also contains some interesting ideas about moving forward. The report notes that research alone will not build a life science cluster. Instead, this research must be supplemented by both capital and talent. Ultimately, entrepreneurs will be the key drivers of this effort. Thus, programs that support entrepreneurs must be tightly integrated into the region’s traditional life science research programs. Combining large institutions, like the Stowers Institute, with an effective entrepreneurial infrastructure will create synergies that can foster new biotech ventures.
The study, A Guide to the Life Sciences in Kansas City, was sponsored by KC
Catalyst (funded by the Kauffman Foundation and the Missouri Department
of Economic Development), the Kansas City Life Sciences Initiative, the Kansas City Area Development Council, the Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation, and the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce. It is available at
http://www.kccatalyst.com/documents/KC-LifSci-BOOKLET.pdf
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MyEntre.Net
University of Northern Iowa
Regional Business Center
212 East 4th Street
Waterloo, Iowa 50703
319-236-8123
info@myentre.net
www.myentre.net
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As family farms close and other economic
anchors leave rural America, communities are scrambling to find new
sources of wealth generation. Not surprisingly, local entrepreneurship
development programs are gaining traction throughout rural regions. Lots
of interesting models exist, and others are emerging on regular basis. For
example, the University of Northern Iowa’s (UNI) Regional Business
Center is experimenting with an innovative program called MyEntre.Net.
MyEntre.Net is a rural business
accelerator that works with local communities to support home-grown
entrepreneurs. The program builds community capacity through leadership
training, and a host of business support services. The program also boasts
an interesting use of technology. Each participating community develops
its own web portal that serves as an on-line learning community, a
business resource center, and a venue for on-line counseling and
mentoring. By combining traditional business support services with
innovative on-line services, MyEntre.Net's
developers hope to ensure that rural business owners receive the same
quality services available to those residing in urban communities.
If
you have suggestions for future SPOTLIGHTS, please send an e-mail
to spotlights@pfidc.org.
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