For a man who has been both an entrepreneur and an educator, the assignment is a natural �€lead a national team in developing an entrepreneurship curriculum to be used by 4-H members throughout the United States.


Douglas Hovatter, a West Virginia University Extension agent in Berkeley County, has been asked by the National 4-H Council to head a team of 14 professionals from across the country that will design the new 4-H program over the next two years.


Hovatter is well-suited for the task. Before joining WVU Extension in 1994, he spent 25 years as a retail store manager, business owner, shopping center developer and home builder.


As an Extension educator, he has become heavily involved in entrepreneurship programs for youth. Three years ago, Extension administrators asked him to explore programs and training offered by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation’s Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, based in Kansas City, Mo.


Hovatter returned enthusiastic to start the programs in West Virginia. At the urging of Extension officials, he put together a state team to be trained by Kauffman.


To date, he and five other WVU Extension faculty have received training in the center’s”Mini-Society”or”Making a Job”program. The faculty members, in turn, have trained 150 teachers to implement the”Mini-Society”program with 3,500 elementary students.


“Our five-year plan projection estimates that we’ll train 350 educators who will reach 14,000 students,”Hovatter said.”The Kauffman Foundation invites us to request training funds based on our previous performance.”


West Virginia is one of 44 states offering”Mini-Society”programs and will be among the first to implement”Making a Job”with middle school students. WVU Extension was among the first 20 educational units (and the only Extension Service) invited to be trained in”Making a Job.”In fact, two”Making a Job”pilot sites in BerkeleyCounty were featured in a video the foundation made to promote the program nationwide.


After being trained by the Extension agents, teachers incorporate the lessons into different subjects �€social studies, writing skills and math �€or even offer it as an after-school activity for a semester.


The students learn entrepreneurship by developing their own society, creating currency and establishing businesses to provide goods and services to their fellow citizens.


Since getting involved in these programs, WVU Extension has received $240,000 in direct grants from the foundation for training, but the supplies and materials provided push the value of the foundation’s total commitment to more than $500,000.


Hovatter says such programs will do two major things for West Virginia:”They will lead to increased gross profits from new businesses the trained students will start later, and they’ll keep our folks in the MountainState. They are wonderful for increasing career awareness, especially in girls who might not think about starting businesses.”


The Kauffman Foundation plans to introduce a program called”Fast Trac”for young adults, which Hovatter also hopes to implement in West Virginia.


With recent trend research showing that small businesses, not large corporations, will create most of the new jobs in the future, entrepreneurship education will be vital in empowering the next generation with knowledge and skills they’ll need in the challenging 21st-century marketplace, Hovatter said.