An excellent new study from the Appalachian Regional Commission highlights the ongoing entrepreneurial renaissance underway across Appalachia.  Access to Capital and Credit for Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs in Appalachia examines the recent experiences of the region’s entrepreneurs seeking capital for business operations and growth.  Let’s start with the good news.  Entrepreneurship is alive and well in Appalachia, with new business starts up 57% when compared with 2019 numbers.  However, most of these firms remain quite small and the lion’s share of firms are sole proprietorships or microenterprises with less than ten employees.  The study identifies a mismatch between these firms and capital sources in the region.  Banks dominate the business finance landscape, with limited access to angel or venture capital.   These small firms need smaller capital infusions, typically in the $100-$250K range, or even very small microloans of under $10,000. Loans of this size can be difficult to access., especially from traditional bank lenders.  The report concludes with an excellent series of recommendations for developing new sources of capital, building more capital-ready businesses, and for further supporting the ongoing boom in small business starts across Appalachia.  If you’re looking for related background material, we also recommend the 2018 project (led by EntreWorks Consulting), Entrepreneurial Ecosystems in Appalachia.

As readers of this blog know, we are actively engaged in a number of efforts supporting communities, especially coal-reliant regions, dealing with the impacts of the ongoing energy transition.  That’s why I’m very excited by the new Resilient Energy Economies Initiative (REE), led by the Bezos Earth Fund, Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, and Resources for the Future.  The REE seeks to develop “innovative solutions by bolstering the people who understand this issue the best: those whose communities are facing uncertain economic prospects due to a heavy dependence on the coal, oil, and gas industries.”

You can learn more about the REE and its proposed program of work via the project’s kickoff paper which, among other things, sets out an initial research agenda. If you are a researcher or work in energy-reliant communities, you may also be interested in REE’s first applied research grant program which will be open for submissions on May 1, 2024.  You can learn more about this opportunity here.