This article argues that skill building lies at the heart of entrepreneurs' success, and it seeks to begin the process of understanding how skills can best be developed. The authors begin with a discussion of skill building and why it must be the focus of productive enterprise development efforts. They then examine a unique enterprise development program in central Appalachia that uses a system of blended personal and peer group coaching to develop the skills of its client entrepreneurs. By triangulating the results of in-depth interviews with entrepreneurs, coaches, and the managers of the program, the research reported here creates a set of comparative case studies that sheds light on how coaching can affect the way entrepreneurs learn. The findings have implications for how entrepreneurs can be more effectively assisted.

This article examines the concept of building entrepreneurial communities as a strategy for community economic development. It begins by attempting to define what is meant by the term "entrepreneurial community" and to clarify how economic developers go about trying to create such places -using activities known as the "enterprise development" to help entrepreneurs grow new business. The article then analyzes the current approach to enterprise development and explains why it is incapable of producing entrepreneurial communities. The authors conclude by calling for a systemic and transformational approach to enterprise development that can truly yield communitywide economic development.

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