North Central Wisconsin faces a changing economic landscape as large “legacy” employers, such as a recently closed paper mill that once employed 900, are providing a smaller share of jobs compared to the emergence of newer, smaller businesses. Despite the region’s continued success as a manufacturing hub, total new job creation has been driven by entrepreneurs in recent years. In response to this shift, the 2023 North Central Wisconsin Regional Entrepreneurial Assessment analyzes the existing entrepreneurial ecosystem and recommends strategies to support new business creation in the region.

The North Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (NCWRPC), based in Wausau, Wisconsin, serves 10 counties: Adams, Forest, Juneau, Langlade, Lincoln, Marathon, Oneida, Portage, Vilas, and Wood. The area is predominately agricultural and forest, with many counties serving as tourism destinations for lake-based recreation. There are also several mid-size cities: Wausau, Stevens Point, Marshfield, and Wisconsin Rapids, which are home to a strong manufacturing base, healthcare, food production, and education.

The assessment began with analysis of the existing conditions that contribute to a robust entrepreneurial ecosystem, such as education levels, quality of life, income, industry clusters, and trends regarding business formations and number of employees. A weighted score known as the “innovation intelligence index” was used, which measures five components: human capital and knowledge creation, business dynamics, business profile, employment and productivity, and economic well-being. The overall weighted score for the region (111.4) was higher than the state score (102.3), indicating that existing conditions support entrepreneurship and innovation, despite being a relatively rural area with no major metropolitan area nearby.

NCWRPC conducted a region-wide survey, and 61 percent of responses indicated that their business was established in the past 5 years. Common challenges to these businesses include labor costs, rent/mortgage payments, staffing issues, financing, and competition from internet-based businesses. Despite an abundance of entrepreneurial resources in the region, survey respondents frequently indicated that they didn’t know about many of the resources that were listed in the survey, indicating an opportunity better connect the region’s businesses and resources. Additional perspectives shared by the survey respondents included a lack of housing, difficulty attracting and retaining workers, an appreciation for the good quality of life in the region, and a perception that rural areas are being left behind compared to larger cities.

NCWRPC staff created a total of seven recommendations based on these findings. Two findings discussed in this case study include:

1. Create and maintain an online portal listing available resources throughout North Central Wisconsin for entrepreneurs and small business owners to increase awareness of the resources available to them.
2. Create a calendar of events throughout the Region supporting entrepreneurs to share with regional stakeholders.

NCWRPC staff immediately created the portal described in the first recommendation and distributed it to stakeholders in all 10 counties. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive, and counties have contributed additional resources and programs to the portal as they are announced. One minor drawback is, because it is a regional portal, a few counties have the perception that it only includes programs available in all ten counties. However, the resources are organized by county, and feedback from those working in economic development organizations (EDOs), chambers of commerce, and other stakeholders, indicates that the portal includes nearly all the programs offered in their county. Continuing to monitor and update these programs will require ongoing communication with county-level stakeholders, and using branding that is more county-focused may help economic development districts (EDDs) better communicate the usefulness of this tool.

Despite the entrepreneur survey being widely distributed among local stakeholders and their mailing lists, there is also a perception that there was a relatively low response rate of 21 percent. This figure could be even lower but there is no way to measure how many times the survey link was forwarded to additional email addresses. As a result, one county has decided to re-launch the same survey in their county to meet the requirements of their county-level economic development plan.

Recommendation two was strongly supported by stakeholders during the assessment process, but it was soon discovered after the assessment’s completion that this had been attempted in the past with no success. The challenge is coordinating multiple counties’ worth of ever-changing calendar dates that come from a variety of sources and platforms (visitors bureaus, chambers of commerce, local EDOs, etc.), which is currently difficult to do in one centralized location. This after-the-fact finding supports a need to involve those familiar with a history of economic development efforts early in the assessment process as well as those familiar with technology.

Overall, the 2023 North Central Wisconsin Regional Entrepreneurial Assessment is considered a success because it provides an easy-to-navigate and all-inclusive location for entrepreneurial resources in one location. The resources address needs that are consistent throughout the region, but also organizes them by location for county-specific resources. It is a challenge to create products that serve a ten-county region while being relevant at the local level, but feedback so far indicates that the assessment and portal have improved access to information. EDDs may wish to designate a local staff member to promote surveys and other assessment-related activities more heavily in a county if they are conducted at the regional level to increase the response rate or the perception of how effective they are. Ongoing efforts led by local stakeholders continue to build off this portal’s success by connecting those who staff these resources with entrepreneurs to meet the recommendations of the assessment.

In summary, entrepreneurs often are not aware of the breadth of resources available to them, even in regions with supportive ecosystems in place. EDDs who are interested in conducting an entrepreneurial assessment and entrepreneurship portal must partner with highly involved and visible stakeholders in counties and municipalities to effectively promote, design, assess, survey, and maintain information about a region’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and its associated resources.