Stimulating and consolidating rural entrepreneurship is one of the key components of the comprehensive rural development approaches to reduce rural poverty and inequalities. Developing entrepreneurship in rural communities based on a territorial and landscape approach involves the combination of various complementary measures:

(i) innovation of local production systems
(ii) training of human capital
(iii) valuation of biodiversity and local cultural heritage
(iv) social and environmental concerns in commercial production operations

Taking the biophysical characteristics into account is fundamental for local actors to adapt their production projects to their landscapes in a sustainable way, rather than merely using the available natural resources.

Local economic development (LED) is defined as “a participatory process that encourages and facilitates partnership between the local stakeholders, enabling the joint design and implementation of strategies, mainly based on the competitive use of the local resources, with the final aim of creating decent jobs and sustainable economic activities,” (ILO).

The concept of “territorial competitiveness” does not mean that individual companies compete against each other, but rather entire business networks and links in productive chains, as well as the territory, inasmuch as it has social and institutional capital that lend themselves to introducing innovations (IADB, 2008).

A  “territorial environment” conducive to entrepreneurship involves the costs associated with starting up a business and maintenance of its activities, access to new technologies, technical assistance (mentoring and coaching), obtaining permits (environmental, health, etc.), and access to loans and incentives, etc.

Proper knowledge of implemented action policies, programs and measures allows territorial actors to optimize their entrepreneurship results. Municipalities, departments and regions often opt to elaborate Local Economic Development Plans (LEDP), which require:

1. analyzing of a territory’s social and productive realities
2. identifying and prioritizing the problems that make economic development more difficult for the population 
3. studying the comparative advantages and available assets
4. designing initiatives and actions that allow for productive development and transformation

Sustainable rural entrepreneurships ideally achieve combining socio-economic development that is specific to the territory, based on its natural resources, its history and its productive and organizational capacity, and the preservation of natural resources with productive projects that respect the environment.

Programs that support the development of the Business Development Services (BDS) market. BDS are fundamental for capacity building for organizations of producers and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The main BDS include:

Programs for developing sustainable rural management (SRM) and business culture between public and private rural organizations through the application of two tools:

1. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): “A concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis” (Green Paper on CSR. European Commission. 2001). Companies thereby establish policies that ensure their sustainable development and, consequently, that of the territories where they are located.
2. Territorial Social Responsibility (TSR): Promotes inter-cooperation and the creation of synergies between sustainable rural territories, which lends to sustainability by proactively addressing economic, social and environmental challenges through collaborative strategies and multilateral commitments. This offers efficient solutions that create value for all parties involved, by managing and aligning tangible and intangible assets with a sustainable vision of the territory (Josep Maria Canyellas).