Recently, I proposed that by placing greater emphasis on education, we would see growth in the number of entrepreneurs in the region. This is still a priority, but there is an even more urgent need to develop entrepreneurs. Many of our family-owned businesses are in the early stages of transferring ownership from the founder to either relatives, management, employees, or outside interests.

As well, there are an increasing number of business opportunities emerging in the fields of science and research at our universities and colleges. If we don’t generate more younger entrepreneurs in the near future, our existing companies and commercializing potential will fall to outside ownership. And while there is nothing wrong with successful entrepreneurs selling to outside companies, we should at least recognize that if we can find a way to encourage entrepreneurship, we will have a much better chance of creating greater prosperity, and sooner. As one of the Junior Achievement essay-contest winners wrote in the April issue of Progress: “Rather than teach us how to search for a job, help us learn how to create jobs for ourselves and others.”

There are so many ways for us to help potential young entrepreneurs. The banks work with every successful businessperson in the region. Bankers know these people and how to reach them. Perhaps the banks could initiate and lead a mentorship program. If you include legal and accounting professional-services firms, there are hundreds of highly successful businesspeople who could be recruited to provide encouragement, direction, experience, and inspiration to the next generation of business owners.

If you’re a banker, accountant, or corporate lawyer and you aren’t sure whether such a mentorship program is for you, consider this: There are thousands of companies where the founding entrepreneur is planning to retire in the next 10 years. If a limited number of entrepreneurs is seeking to buy those companies, many will be acquired offshore. The new owners many not need the services of local banks or professional business firms. Having local young people acquire and grow those companies is a much better business-development plan. And not only do the banks, accounting, and legal firms know who the mentors could be, but they also know when businesses are going into succession execution and whether a sale outside the family is possible.

Our bankers and professional-service providers can contribute significantly, not just to the stewardship of business but also to its growth. Progress has launched a mentorship program at our annual Face to Face conference, and the results have been remarkable. Young business owners have been connected to many seasoned pros, and everyone has benefited.

It’s an excellent initiative, but much more needs to be done. We must get into the schools to get young people excited about becoming business owners at an early age. Cultivating understanding, imagination, and mentorship is all that is required.

Being an entrepreneur isn’t for everyone, but neither is a career in the Armed Forces or as a tax accountant—and both of those fields recruit in the education system. We must get more aggressive in turning our young people into entrepreneurs.