One thing I think we can all agree on — government efforts to help New Orleans in the post-Katrina recovery have resulted in minimal success.
Startup New Orleans is, instead, looking to free enterprise to rebuild the city one entrepreneur at a time.
To attract more of these types of individuals, Start Up New Orleans has been established by four of the city’s young business leaders. A resource for entrepreneurs seeking information and connections to other entrepreneurs, Start Up New Orleans is designed to leverage the city’s unique qualities (rich culture, low costs, economic incentives), which distinguish it from anywhere else in the United States.
According to Sean Cummings, a local developer and co-founder of Start Up New Orleans, “New Orleans has always been a beacon for people with imagination, daring, and alternative approaches to solving problems. Our mission is to attract these types of people to New Orleans, and provide them with the information and resources they need to start their businesses here.”
“Silicon Valley became the nerve center for technology in the U.S. because of the investment businesses in the region made in attracting and retaining technology people,” said Nic Perkin, also a co-founder of Start-Up New Orleans and partner in the New Orleans Exchange, a new technology start-up. “The same can be said for New York City with financial people. What we’re doing here in New Orleans is making this the city of choice for entrepreneurs. If you’re smart, motivated and have a track record of success, we want you here.”
Offering a mosaic of case studies of success and profiles of innovators whose ideas are changing the Greater New Orleans region for the better, the Start Up New Orleans website is a portal through which entrepreneurs can access information about establishing operations in New Orleans.
This project is yet another example of how social enterprise can create real social change through the free market.
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