Toward a Tipping Point for Talent: How the Idea Village is Creating an Entrepreneurial Movement in New Orleans

neurs, including me, were having a conversation about how to reverse the city’s last 40 years of fundamental economic and social decline. New Orleans was in a downward spiral, and concerned business owners and entrepreneurs wanted to create an environment that would allow young talent to stay in the city, grow businesses, and raise their families. The core problem was the exodus of the best and brightest from the community; from 1990 to 2000, the State of Louisiana experienced a net loss of over 41,000 people age 23 to 35. This brain drain created a vacuum of innovation, leaving few individuals to provide new thinking to redirect the economy, and to address pressing social issues such as crime, education, and housing. The collective answer to this problem was that New Orleans needed to attract and retain entrepreneurs who would create new wealth, and this new group of economic leaders would in turn create innovative solutions to the city’s social challenges. We believed the next generation of city leaders would be the engaged entrepreneurs. Thus a movement was ignited.