Strengthening Community Economic Self-Reliance through Entrepreneurship Development Based on Local Potential and Resources

Abstract

Community economic self-reliance has become a central concern in development discourse as villages and urban neighborhoods across developing countries continue to depend heavily on external aid, seasonal wage labor, and volatile commodity markets. This article examines how entrepreneurship development grounded in local potential and resources can strengthen community economic self-reliance in a sustainable and replicable manner. Using a qualitative conceptual-analytical approach that synthesizes twenty-five recent studies on local-potential-based entrepreneurship, asset-based community development, and social entrepreneurship, this article constructs an integrative framework linking four pillars: local resource identification, entrepreneurial capacity building, institutional and cooperative support, and market access. The analysis finds that community economic self-reliance emerges most strongly when entrepreneurship initiatives are anchored in place-specific assets—agricultural produce, coastal resources, cultural heritage, and local wisdom—rather than imported business models. The article further identifies a novelty gap in existing literature: most studies treat local potential, entrepreneurial training, and institutional support as separate interventions rather than as an integrated, mutually reinforcing system. This article proposes a Local Potential-Based Entrepreneurship Self-Reliance (LPBES) model that addresses this gap. Findings offer practical implications for community facilitators, cooperative managers, and policymakers seeking to design entrepreneurship programs that convert local endowments into durable economic independence rather than temporary income gains.