How can education be a tool for social and economic reorganization and development of small communities? How is it possible to achieve economic growth by combining natural resources and skilled labour? The author answers these questions based on personal and professional experiences as well as on successful international examples. In the short term, the development of such industries could prove to be a good strategy, where the main production factors are local natural resources and the maintenance and development of as many stages of production processes as possible are kept in Székely Land. The long-term regional development strategy should focus on education because learning is one of the main tools for maintaining competitiveness, an investment that produces high yields. Economic prosperity is created, not inherited, so it is important to provide a highly skilled workforce and to create investment conditions that can make the area attractive to foreign investors.