Entrepreneurship at home and abroad: why Donald Trump should listen to two visionary businessmen who didn't support him.

• Author: Stangler, Dane
• Position: The Third Wave: An Entrepreneur's Vision of the Future; Peace Through Entrepreneurship Investing in a Startup Culture for Security and Development - Book review

The Third Wave: An Entrepreneur's Vision of the Future

by Steve Case

Simon & Schuster, 240 pp.

Peace Through Entrepreneurship Investing in a Startup Culture for Security and Development

by Steven R. Koltai, with Matthew Muspratt

Brookings Institution Press, 240 pp.

Last spring, after ISIS-linked suicide bombers killed thirty-two innocent people in Brussels, NPR's Dina Temple-Raston interviewed members of the Muslim community in that city and discovered something fascinating. The main suspects in the bombings were from Moroccan immigrant families, as are most of 500-plus Belgians who have traveled to Syria. But Brussels also has many Muslims of Turkish descent, whose families immigrated to Belgium at about the same time. Very few of the Turkish youth have become radicalized, and none have traveled to Syria. The difference, Temple-Raston was told by representatives of both communities, is entrepreneurship. Turks in Belgium are far more likely than Moroccans to start their own businesses. These businesses provide jobs for young Turkish men. Lacking such opportunities, young Moroccan men drift into lives of crime and, in some cases, terrorism.

Donald Trump, a self-described entrepreneur, ran a successful presidential campaign to "Make America Great Again" based on promises to rebuild the U.S. economy and fight Islamic terrorism. Exactly what his administration will to do on both fronts is--in keeping with his ever-changing campaign rhetoric--still somewhat hazy. His major domestic aims involve infrastructure and cuts in taxes and regulations, while on the foreign policy front, he promises a registry for Muslim Americans and bans on immigrants from Islamic countries.

If Trump wants to pursue a more constructive and inventive path, however, he might want to consult two people who likely didn't vote for him. One is Steve Case, the billionaire cofounder and former chief executive of AOL, and a supporter of and adviser to President Barack Obama. The other is Steven Koltai, a veteran investor-entrepreneur who served as a senior adviser to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Both have books out that argue for a stronger federal role in spurring entrepreneurship, something Trump himself has talked little about.

At State, Koltai was given the job of creating and running a new initiative, the Global Entrepreneurship Program. Launched in support of President Obama's 2009 speech in Cairo, the program is aimed at the right target: encouraging...