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History |
The Entrepreneur Fund was conceived in the
mid-1980's when our region, long-dependent on the iron
mining and timber industries, underwent a difficult
period of recession. Although the industry went
on to regain strength, not all of the jobs returned.
Our service
area is a predominately rural region with
470,000 people that includes 11 counties and
covers nearly 30,000 square miles.
Our economy is based on natural resources of
taconite, timber and tourism.
Historically, we have seen ourselves as
employees rather than employers. We
have looked to large businesses outside the
region and government to provide solutions
and job opportunities. The devastating
economic restructuring and permanent job
loss the region experienced in the early
1980's left the region's people with few
options. We needed to increase our
self-reliance, to create our own locally
owned businesses and our own jobs.
The vision for the
organization, which started in 1989, was
that it would provide technical assistance
and financing to individuals who would start
their own businesses to create their own
jobs. By helping individuals start and
grow their own businesses, we would also be helping to
create role models for
entrepreneurship and a source of inspiration
for others in the region. We believe
that the most important legacy of the
Entrepreneur Fund will be instilling
self-reliance and self-determination by
creating economic opportunity through
entrepreneurship.
The Northeast Entrepreneur Fund is committed
to being a sustainable institution that can
support long-term economic solutions for the
region. We will continue to seek new
opportunities to diversify and strengthen
our organization.
We will always focus on building tools and
strategies that support entrepreneurship and
that meet the needs of entrepreneurs and
small businesses in our region. The
Entrepreneur Fund seeks, through its own
actions and operations, to be a model of
excellence for the businesses it helps
create and for other organizations in the
region.
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