Acadia Centre for Small Business and Entrepreneurship firmly believes that community development occurs when communities, through community members, become more entrepreneurial. An entrepreneurial person or community possesses skill sets that include creativity, innovation, decision-making, communication, and action planning. Entrepreneurial skills may be manifested in government, business or society and normally create change and betterment. Community in its broadest sense refers to any grouping of individuals, businesses, or organizations that have common goals. Community can be a collection of individuals that share a common interest or purpose.
Every community has capacity, which is the identification and use of all assets.
Unfortunately most communities have no idea of their true capacity. Asset mapping identifies what strengths currently exist within a community. This approach is efficient, economic, and most importantly, effective. The combination of asset mapping, community development and economic development form the loose structure of the Community Based Entrepreneurial Asset Mapping Program. This programme is the bringing together of the community partners in a manner that promotes the development of a network that has the capability of utilizing the asset mapping data to provide the necessary services and programmes to move the community ahead.