Two Years After Katrina Entrepreneurs Return To New Orleans
It's two years today since Hurricane Katrina raged across the Gulf Coast, bursting levies and leaving large portions of New Orleans flooded. President Bush led a moment of silence for the 1,400 victims of the disaster and a march was held in the Lower Ninth Ward, one of the hardest hit neighborhoods.
Business Week is also marking the anniversary with a slide show and article checking in on how business in the city is recovering. While there's a long way to go with reconstruction, and arguments continue to swirl about the disbursement of aid, Business Week also finds reason for optimism:
A small but growing corps of young, ambitious, and passionate entrepreneurs are starting companies that could help the city's economic future. They are business owners who looked beyond New Orleans' traditional tourism, oil, and shipping industries to find fertile ground for their ideas.Courageous business people are coming to the city for a variety of reasons. "They see a chance to reinvent the economy," Business Week notes. Also, the low price of office space and "an existing infrastructure that supports entrepreneurship in the city" helps draw enterprising young people.
Of course the future of these start-up businesses is uncertain, but nonetheless their presence in the city attests to the ability of the business community to make a positive difference. They also remind us that every problem -- even every disaster -- no matter how terrible, also offers opportunities to reinvent or refocus.
(Image of flooded New Orleans by pingnews.com, CC 2.0)