Behind every great entrepreneur... is a mom

That spirit echoes among mothers of up-and-comers, such as Missy Fine, the entrepreneurship award winner.

"I always let Missy try everything," says Ginny Fine as her daughter displays jewelry at a student-business fair at the college. In high school, Missy was the only girl to play varsity football, but it was her artistic interests that lasted as she headed off to Babson, a school known for fostering entrepreneurs.

"My parents gave me $500 to start my business," Missy says. "They might not always agree with everything I do, but I'll learn if I make a mistake."

Kay Koplovitz, cofounder of USA Networks, says her mother's unconditional love carried over into the teamwork she's created as an employer. She saw too much gossip and criticism in television networks where she worked, and vowed never to allow such a waste of human talent if she were in charge. "Good ideas can come from anywhere in the company," she says.

Ms. Koplovitz has also set out to boost venture capital for women-owned businesses. Although women lead nearly a third of businesses, less than 10 percent of venture capital goes to female entrepreneurs, according to a recent study by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, Mo.

Billy Starr channeled his passion directly into the nonprofit world. In 1980, he launched the Pan-Mass Challenge, a bike race across Massachusetts to raise money for cancer research. He started it to honor his mother, Betty, after her death. Since then, the annual event has raised more than $100 million. "Ten years ago, nobody was calling it a career," he says, "but it's what I woke up to do every day." Now it's a prime example of what's known as "social entrepreneurism."

Of course, it's important for aspiring entrepreneurs to realize that they may have to forge ahead on their own. "Most of the how-to books repeat the myth that without family support, you shouldn't even think about starting your own business," says Yanky Fachler, a British motivational speaker and author of "My Family Doesn't Understand Me! Coping Strategies for Entrepreneurs."

Many families actually can't give the kind of support entrepreneurs hunger for, he says, because if they are employees themselves, their sense of security is "threatened by someone wanting to jump off the employment ladder and start something by themselves." In the United States, only about 1 in 10 adults are engaged in entrepreneurial activity, the Kauffman Foundation reports. Mr. Fachler advises that they turn to one another for reminders that they're not crazy.

Even when emotional support is plentiful, it's not always easy for parents to expose children to the concepts and skills of the business world. The National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship tries to fill that gap with programs for low-income youths.

With NFTE's help, Pamela Johnson's three children have turned a painted-ceramics hobby into a business at their home in the Bronx in New York. They've won awards and met mentors who offered them grants after seeing their business plan. Now, Ms. Johnson says, "they don't just talk to people - they always see it as a potential contract." She coaches them and arranges opportunities for them to speak to their peers.

Her advice to other parents: "If [your child] wants to be an entrepreneur, give them lots of support, but don't run the business for them. I tell them, if at any point you don't want to keep doing this, it's OK."

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