Enterprise

Enterprise has a broad range of economic development opportunities that provide local employment and services.  Several local service businesses operate in Enterprise.  Enterprise is committed to looking at opportunities for the community to actively promote economic development and growth within its boundaries and through tourism.  Many of the residents work outside the community in the mining industry or in Hay River. Enterprise is an important transportation stop for many travelers heading north or south. It is located at the junction between NWT Highways 1 and 2 and has one restaurant, one motel, two gas stations, Winnies and Twin Falls Inn, but no grocery store, although the gas stations have small convenience stores for the travelers.
Tourism certainly helps the businesses in Enterprise as the community’s economy is dependent on travelers driving either north or south, plenty of which are local to the NWT.  It is also a daily transfer point for bus services taking passengers travelling north or south.
The community is part of the Deh Cho Travel Connection, marketed as a drivable wilderness from mile zero of the Mackenzie Highway to mile zero of the Alaska Highway.
History and Culture

Enterprise is the first NWT community on the Mackenzie Highway when driving north from Alberta. A service station was built to capture highway business and then grew to include food, lodging and other services. The community began taking shape in the Mackenzie Highway was being built. Between 1945 and 1948 the highway originally ran from Grimshaw, Alberta to Hay River in the NWT. It followed a winter road cut through the bush in the spring of 1939 to Hay River used to supply the gold fields across Great Slave Lake in Yellowknife. The rest of the Mackenzie Highway, the westward section, leads to the Dehcho community of Wrigley. That portion began being built between 1972 and 1976 but was not completed until 1994. All this time Enterprise has maintained itself as a community by providing serves directly related to highway traffic and highway travelers. Over time, the community has grown to include a cargo station, restaurants, a gift shop and accommodations. Enterprise gained Settlement Corporation status in 1988 and on October 27, 2007, was incorporated as a hamlet. Today Enterprise is a small, yet tight-knit and active community.

GNWT - Industry, Tourism and Investment