Entrepreneurship is becoming a more pronounced aspect of rural economic development.  More than 25% of rural residents own a business that serve a variety of local and external needs.  These businesses may involve a single proprietor that provides supplemental income for families or they may employ several hundred people.    Youth must be prepared to explore innovative approaches to business.  Extension groomed over 100 teen entrepreneurs through several intensive week-long entrepreneurship programs in Somerset, Pikeville and Springfield, Kentucky.   Each of these programs involved youth entrepreneurship contests in which the participants had to explain their business concepts and financial plans to a team of judges.   The winners received college scholarships, cash or opportunities to compete further in state and regional contests.    All of the participants learned about the role of innovation and planning to bring a product or service to market.  These programs and contests are laying the groundwork for youth to imagine themselves as entrepreneurs and to build an entrepreneurial eco-system in which creativity is valued by rural communities.