This paper analyses the role of diverse social actors - particularly entrepreneurs - in the construction of a model of economic development which is descriptive of Lessingers (1986) "Penturbia". We used the town of Tiradentes, Minas Gerais State, as archetypical of the concept and we analyze its developmental trajectory in a grounded theory study. Our research included classic ethnographic methods; analysis of documents, direct observation, and in depth interviews with representatives of restaurants, hotels, studios, foundations, the church, and political figures. We used the N-vivo 8.0 software program to validate our interpretation of interview transcriptions. Our data suggested two general categories of entrepreneur which emerged from oppositional themes in respondent discourse. These categories, in turn were expanded into four additional categories - craftsperson, engineer, bricoleur and artist suggested by the international entrepreneurship literature. The frequency and policy orientation of these categories vis-à-vis local development has important implications for the sociocultural and economic future of the community.
entrepreneurship; local entrepreneurship; social ecology; penturbia