America’s New Frontier For Business Opportunity

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“America’s New Frontier For Business Opportunity”
Adriana Lopez
Forbes

English: The Louisiana State Capitol building ...They say that the view from the bottom is often the reason – the inspiration – for getting back up. For Louisiana, the view must have been coming from very low ground and looked overwhelmingly bleak, because the state has made a dramatic economic transformation over the recent years, after decades of experiencing a great outward migration of its population due to a notoriously poor business climate.

Now, Louisiana has become one of the most attractive states to do business across a wide spectrum of both traditional and burgeoning industries. This is in large part due to governmental reforms and economic development efforts that were executed in 2008, at a time when most states were pulling back on those efforts due to the beginning of the economic recession. In the past four years, the state has improved on all major business climate rankings, excelling on several lists among the top 10, and luring in dozens of economic development projects that are creating more than 63,000 jobs and over $28 billion in new capital investment.

Just last month, New Orleans was ranked no. 1 overall in economic recovery out of the largest 100 metro areas in the United States, according to theBrookings Institution.  Specifically, the Louisiana city came out first in employment, first in Gross Domestic Product output, 87th in unemployment, and 26th in housing prices.  Further confirming the strong economic recovery, New Orleans has witnessed above average employment growth in the Real Estate, Information, Oil and Gas, Leisure and Hospitality, and Education industries, thanks, in large part, to initiatives at the local and state levels.

Governmental Reform

For over two decades prior, however, Louisiana was perceived as having one of the poorest business climates in the country, and, subsequently, witnessed the lowest rankings across several business lists for it. As a result, Louisiana residents were fleeing away after high school and college in pursuit of better career opportunities elsewhere. In addition, business executives were not even considering Louisiana as an acceptable state to do business, as it had had a reputation for being one of the most corrupt states in the country.

In 2004, The Committee of 100, a statewide business organization, commissioned a national survey of business executives around the country to better understand how Louisiana was perceived and to determine what needed to be done in order to make the state more attractive for business investments.  One of the open-ended questions asked business executives to list what they thought Louisiana could do to become more attractive for businesses that were looking to relocate or open new locations. Tied for the most common response was a request to clean up the image of corruption.

In 2007, after an unsuccessful push for a comprehensive governmental ethics reform by a local business coalition, Gov. Jindal made it one of his top priorities in his gubernatorial campaign. When he went into office in early 2008, Louisiana was listed among the ten worst states in the country, based on the state’s governmental ethics laws on Better Government Association’s Integrity Index and The Center for Public Integrity ranking.

Within the first weeks of his term, Gov. Jindal called the legislature into special session in order to pass legislation on governmental ethics reform. This drastically improved the perception of the state and became the start for what would be a prosperous journey for Louisiana’s economy. It also subsequently lifted the state’s rankings to no. 5, up from no. 46, on the BGA’s Integrity Index and no. 1 by the Center for Public Integrity, who gave Louisiana a 43 spot jump. Louisiana also ranked higher on lists that build their rankings in part on perception-based components, including Forbes’ Best States for Business.

Additionally, several business tax cuts initiated by Gov. Jindal helped improve the competitiveness of the state. He eliminated sales taxes on manufacturing machinery and equipment, natural gas and business utilities, and tangible personal property consumed in manufacturing processes. A state franchise tax on corporate debt and the capital gains tax on the sale of privately held businesses, which was once a contributor that drove successful entrepreneurs out of Louisiana, were also eliminated within Gov. Jindal’s first term in office.

Substantially reducing the state and local tax burdens on businesses that were driving the economy, these changes collectively made a significant impact on Louisiana’s business climate, allowing the state to now have a competitive tax structure. This year, in a 50 state analysis released by The Tax Foundation and KPMG, Louisiana was ranked the no. 2 state with the lowest state and local tax burdens on new firms and no. 10 for mature firms. These results are incorporated into major national business climate rankings.

Economic Development Efforts

Economic development efforts that reformed workforce development programs, created and strengthened economic incentive programs, and enhanced business development programs also contributed to Louisiana’s economic turnaround. In early 2008, when most states decided to pull back on this programing due to the turn of the economic recession, Louisiana took a more aggressive approach and decided to improve all economic development initiatives.

At the start of his term, Gov. Jindal appointed Stephen Moret as the Secretary of Louisiana Economic Development.  With tax cuts and ethics reform already identified, Secretary Moret had the ambitious task of recruiting new business into Louisiana.  Additionally, the Department of Labor was replaced with a more business-focused Louisiana Workforce Commission to respond to the state’s changes and the demands of the market.

In conjunction with the Louisiana Workforce Commission and several community and technical college campuses across the state, the LED created Louisiana FastStart that year to improve the workforce in Louisiana. The new programming, which is now comprised of 32 full-time professionals and about 105 specialized training contractors, designs comprehensive, customized workforce solutions to eligible companies that are either expanding or new to Louisiana.  With little time to launch the new initiative, Secretary Moret recruited Jeff Lynn from Georgia’s Quick Start program to lead as the Executive Director of FastStart.

FastStart quickly became one of the strongest economic development tools to come out of Louisiana, turning what was once a poorly perceived workforce in Louisiana into one of the top influencers for new business development.  For the past three years in a row, Business Facilities Magazine has ranked LED FastStart as the #1 workforce-training program in the country. FastStart has contributed in assisting projects that have brought in more than 63,000 direct and indirect jobs and over $28 billion in new capital investment.

Louisiana FastStart can attribute its success to their proactive efforts that help them stay ahead of other states, when it comes to recruiting new business investments. When word got out that French mobile game development studio, Gameloft, was looking to open its second North American studio, the LED reached out to the company and added New Orleans to the list of American cities that were being considered. Having not even been an option for Gameloft, New Orleans was now competing with Austin and San Francisco, cities that have long been dominating the gaming industry. In a seven week social media push, FastStart had collected over 1,400 applications from qualified candidates, who were either living in the region or ready to relocate to the New Orleans area, before even getting a commitment from Gameloft to relocate.  With financial incentives such as the low cost of living and an aggressive tax credit program, Louisiana proved to also provide Gameloft with the workforce it needed to open its new studio with over 150 job openings in New Orleans.

Other major economic development wins include several projects across a wide spectrum of industries. General Electric, who will be creating over 600 direct and indirect jobs at their Technology Center in New Orleans, made the decision to open its new division in Louisiana after FastStart created unique enterprise software for the Fortune 500 company. Electronic Arts (EA) will soon be increasing their workforce from 400 to 600 in Baton Rouge after they received help to create internal software that makes their game testing more efficient. And, most recently, Sasol, whose gas-to-liquids complex in Calcasieu Parish will be providing the south western region of Louisiana with 7,000 new jobs and infusing up to $21 billion in capital investment into the state’s economy, was able to select a site for its multi-billion dollar complex six months ahead of schedule with a sophisticated, proprietary GIS-enabled site-selection tool that was created for them.

“If you really step back and look at it, its not just one or two things that have been a catalyst for this growth in Louisiana,” added Secretary Moret, “There are about 9 or 10 different factors that continue to contribute to making the state an economic powerhouse.”

New Orleans, specifically, has seen a large turnaround since its pre-Katrina landscape. From entrepreneurial growth, the progression of the digital media and biotechnology industries, and the development of the new multi-billion dollar medical corridor, New Orleans has witnessed an economic renaissance that is bringing new companies and investments into the region for the first time.

“What has happened is that there have been a significant amount of local economic development efforts that have progressed at the same rate as the state’s efforts,” said Secretary Moret, who admits that he worried about the future of New Orleans when first accepting his position in 2008.  However, he adds that the remarkable turnaround has been tremendously exciting.

At the regional level is Greater New Orleans, Inc., an economic development force that works diligently in conjunction with the state to bring new investments to the 10 southeastern parishes in Louisiana. They, too, have been responsible for recruiting international companies such as General Electric and Gameloft into the state.  Additionally, the organization has played a major role in preparing the region for the new medical corridor that is currently being built in New Orleans. The district, which will include a VA Hospital, University Medical Center, Cancer Research Center, and BioInnovation Center, is set to be fully complete in 2015 with over 20,000 job openings.

“Over the next three to four years, we will be working on building a critical mass of individuals in the region,” explained President and CEO of GNO, Inc., Michael Hecht, on the organization’s goals for the future. This growth of talent will be evidenced specifically within the developing medical and technology realms.

Further proof of the area’s wealth in business opportunity can be seen throughWorkNOLA.com, a website that was created by a New Orleans based networking group called 504ward. In 2012, 504ward joined forces with GNO, Inc. in order to improve the website and add on a new set of enhancements in conjunction with the region’s growing employment opportunities. Capitalizing on the region’s fast growing technology sector, the website caters to the regions demands by using a unique match-making system that collects a candidate’s skillset in order to best connect them with employers and positions they otherwise might not have considered before. The site also stays up to date with the hundreds of new positions available in the area, including those from the larger firms that are new to the region.

The site is free to use and makes job seekers in the area aware of all the strong industries developing throughout the region. Opportunities range across all sectors including healthcare, tech, education, hospitality, trade, and manufacturing, highlighting the entire region and its surrounding parishes.  With the strong database of job seekers already in place, WorkNOLA.com also ensures companies that the Louisiana region is the right place to invest.

Adapting and Overcoming

One of the biggest issues that plagued Louisiana and the New Orleans region was its inability to adapt – effortlessly remaining indifferent to change and continuing to neglect its business, while losing several oil firms to Houston during the 1970’s and 80’s. With declining school systems and increasing corruption, the region was not able to compete with cities like Houston.

In the early 1980’s, a worldwide oil crash devastated the gulf coast, which was predominantly thriving on its petroleum industry at the time.  Residents began to migrate out of the region in search for better opportunities.  The state could not adapt to the economic changes facing the nation, and continued to suffer greatly as a result.

Now, with several industries flourishing simultaneously, financial incentives, workforce training programs, and an influx of both new and established businesses, Louisiana has been able to not only overcome a natural disaster, oil spill, and national economic recession, but has become one of the most competitive and prosperous states for business.

This success can be evidenced through a highly ranked business climate, low unemployment rate, and increase in the private sector that is securing more economic prosperity for Louisiana in 2013. In addition, according to theBrookings Institution, the Recovery School District in New Orleans has become the best school district in the nation for school choice and competition, further breaking down barriers that once hindered the area and its ability to retain residents and businesses.

As we go into 2013, the country faces a number of economic challenges, such as the repercussions of the fiscal cliff, the slow recovery of the economic recession, and the increasing number of Americans falling below the poverty line.  However, there are still opportunities for individual and business prosperity, whether it’s in Louisiana or elsewhere in the country. What is important to note is that the future is not bleak, and the opportunities are available. The true question is, however, how are you going to adapt?

Hurrication

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Hurrication

“The time one spends at home with friends and massive quantities of alcohol.  This is usually preceded by a hurricane that one did not evacuate from.  Usually accompanied by a lack of electrical power. “

In some parts of the country, kids wake up on winter mornings dreaming for blizzards to turn into snow days.  Well, down here in the tropics, we don’t get snow days, so our school children pray for hurricane days.  To them, it’s no coincidence that the first few weeks of school coincide with the most active days of hurricane season.

For the rest of us not so lucky to be in school, preparing for an incoming hurricane can be costly and a time suck.  Fill the car with gas, pull cash from the ATM, monitor the weather channel, secure loose items in the yard, find high ground to park the car, pull office files from bottom cabinets, secure windows and doors, stock up on water, batteries, flashlights, candles, canned food, toilet paper, beer, wine, liquor, beer, wine, liquor, beer, wine, liquor … oh look, m&ms!

Phew, that was exhausting.  After all the preparations, if you are lucky enough to have work and school called off, the decision must be made to ride it out or evacuate.  One way or the other, you are in for a hurrication.  The preparations are complete and now there is nothing left to do but wait.  For some of us, the first few hours of this are excruciating.  Your usually busy lifestyle has skidded to a startling halt and you find yourself with a clean house, all of your errands complete and nothing else to do but…well, relax!

As strange as it may seem, hurricane season in New Orleans is a gift.  It causes us to slow down our pace, relax and have a cocktail.  You spend hours upon hours with family and friends, passing the time and doing nothing else but playing cards and drinking booze, because what else do you do once the power goes out?

This quality time is essential for our community solidarity and without it, we wouldn’t be able to relive those ridiculous stories from high school or have dance parties to ace of base in the living room.  When there is no internet, no power and no TV, the creativity and bonding are endless and it is one of the reasons that NOLA-ites are such a close knit community.   So, hunker down with your favorite peeps NOLA…time to ride out this storm NOLA style.

Hurricane Party

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Hurricane Party
Cowboy Mouth

(Paul) A little piano from John Thomas Griffith. He’s usually grippin’ and rippin’ the lead guitar. Give it up for John over there. This is what we call in New Orleans a hurricane party. Kick it Freddy!
(Fred) Ah one! Ah Two! Ah one two three four!

 

My hurricane party got outta control
I’m lying in the gutter eatin’ tootsie rolls
With red ant bites all over my ass
Beating on my buddies with a baseball bat

 

We had a little party me and my friends
A hurricane was coming to New Orleans again
somebody brought scotch somebody brought beer
I shoulda’ kept the hooch and thrown’em outta here

 

A friendly game a penny a hand
Smoke a cigar act like a man
Waintin’ for the gale force winds to blow
Shuffle up the cards and let the liquor flow

 

My hurricane party got outta control
I’m lying in the gutter eatin’ tootsie rolls
With red ant bites all over my ass
Beating on my buddies with a baseball bat

 

Somebody’s girlfriend showed up by surprise
With cookies in her hands and dollar signs in her eyes
I started dipping her cookies in scotch
Well she won all my money and my pocket watch

 

Well I passed out and I woke up
The house was empty and so was my cup
From out on the front porch I heard them shout
I wish they’d come in so I could throw them out

 

My hurricane party got outta control
I’m lying in the gutter eatin’ tootsie rolls
With red ant bites all over my ass
Beating on my buddies with a baseball bat JTG!

 

Everybody’s wrestling out in the dirt
I laughed so hard till my stomach hurt
They saw me clean they heard me laugh
They started charging at me and I grabbed the bat

 

My hurricane party got outta control
I’m lying in the gutter eatin’ tootsie rolls
With red ant bites all over my ass
Beating on my buddies with a baseball bat
Beating on my buddies with a baseball bat
Beating on my buddies with a baseball bat

As Filmmaking Surges, New Orleans Becoming Serious Challenger to L.A.

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Originally published in Forbes
Written by Joel Kotkin
April 20th, 2012

As Filmmaking Surges, New Orleans Becoming Serious Challenger to L.A.

For generations New Orleans‘ appeal to artists, musicians and writers did little to dispel the city’s image as a poor, albeit fun-loving, bohemian tourism haven. As was made all too evident by Katrina, the city was plagued by enormous class and racial divisions, corruption and some of the lowest average wages in the country.

Yet recently, the Big Easy and the state of Louisiana have managed to turn the region’s creative energy into something of an economic driver. Aided by generous production incentives, the state has enjoyed among the biggest increases in new film production anywhere in the nation. At a time when production nationally has been down, the number of TV and film productions shot in Louisiana tripled from 33 per year in 2002-2007 to an average of 92 annually in 2008-2010, according to a study by BaxStarr Consulting. Movies starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Morgan Freeman, Harrison Ford are being made in the state this year.

Of course many states and cities have thrown money at the film industry, hoping to establish themselves as cultural centers. Texas, Georgia, British Columbia, Toronto and Michigan all wagered millions in tax dollars to lure producers away from Hollywood and the industry’s secondary hub of New York. There were 279 movies shot in New York State in 2009 and 2010. For all its gains, Louisiana still trails far behind the Empire State with 95 film productions in that period.

Yet New Orleans and Louisiana possess unique assets which make its challenge far more serious than that of other places. A Detroit, Atlanta or Dallas might be a convenient and cost-efficient place to make a film or television show, but they lack the essential cultural richness that can lure creative people to stay. The Big Easy is attracting that type, plus post-production startups, and animation and videogame outfits, giving a broader foundation to the nascent local entertainment industry.

“This is different,” notes Los Angeles native and longtime Hollywood costumer Wingate Jones, who started Southern Costume Co. last year to cash in on the growth in production in the state. “It’s the combination of the food and the culture that appeals to people. It must have been a lot like what Hollywood was like in the ’20s and ’30s. It’s entrepreneurial and growing like mad.”

Critically, Jones adds, Louisiana’s unique culture comes without the fancy New York or Malibu price tag. This is a place where small roadside cafes serve up bowls of gumbo, crayfish and shrimp that would cost three to five times as much in New York, the Bay Area or Los Angeles. Excellent music — from rap to jazz to blues and gospel — can be found simply by walking into a bar and paying the price of a couple of beers. And then there are housing costs, roughly half as high, adjusted for income, than the big media centers.

This mixture of affordability and culture is attracting young people — the raw material of the creative economy — as well as industry veterans like Jones. In 2011, we examined migration patterns of the college-educated and found, to our surprise, that New Orleans was the country’s leading brain magnet. New Orleans was growing its educated base, on a per capita basis, at a far faster rate than much-ballyhooed, self-celebrated places like New York or San Francisco. In fact, its most intense competition was coming from other Southern cities such as Raleigh, Austin and Nashville, the last two of which also share a strong, and unique, regional culture.

Another sure sign of the city’s growing appeal has been a torrent of applications to Tulane University, the city’s premier institution of higher education. In 2010 the school received 44,000 applications, more than any other private university in the country. The largest group, more than even those from Louisiana, came from California, with New York and Texas not far behind.

Increasingly, the Big Easy merits comparison not only to the Hollywood of the 1920s but also Greenwich Village of the ’50s, Haight-Ashbury in the ’60s and “grunge” Seattle in the mid-’80s. These, too, were once appealing places that were less expensive, less predictable and more open to cultural outsiders. Now they’re increasingly too pricey and yuppified for creative people bereft of large trust funds.

Ironically, Katrina provided the critical spark for this transformation. It devastated the torpid, corrupt political and business culture that viewed the arts as quaint and fit only as a selling point for tourists. In its place came more business-minded administrations in New Orleans and in Baton Rouge, the state capital. In both places, economic developers seized on motion pictures, television, commercials and videogames as potential growth industries that fit well with the state’s expanding appeal to this generation’s creators.

Those now building entertainment businesses in Louisiana see the state’s business climate and cultural heritage as key assets. David Hague manages the New Orleans studio of Paris-based Gameloft. When it was opening in 2011 with plans to hire 20 in its first year, he says it received a blizzard of 2,500 applications. Hague thinks the city has basic appeal for young creative people.

“Everywhere you look there is something inspiring either architecturally or historically; not to mention a thriving arts community,” he says. “When you combine all these aspects and project them forward you have the foundation to build a critical mass of employers in the industry that will keep the area competitive long term.”

The growth of games companies, special effects and other post-production houses may be even more important for Louisiana’s long-term cultural ascendency than the surge in filming. Electronic Arts, for example, recently opened a $28.2 million testing facilities in Baton Rouge, an hour north of the Big Easy. Moonbot Studios, which got started in 2009 in the northern Louisiana city of Shreveport, just won an Academy Award for its short animated feature “The Fantastic Flying Books Of Mr. Morris Lessmore,” and appears to be on the verge of becoming a powerhouse in all fields of digital animation.

These companies have the potential to give the state a long-term competitive edge. After all, generous tax breaks, like those now offered by Louisiana, can be offered elsewhere; over the past few decades, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Georgia, Michigan, Texas and New Mexico have all targeted producers looking to save a buck or two. But while incentives can get film people from Los Angeles, where I live, or in the Bay Area or New York to trudge out to work for a bit in Toronto, Pittsburgh or Dallas, few ever think about settling in these places. In the end, they return to Hollywood, and New York, because a critical mass of writers, actors and technicians have congregated and enjoy being there.

Louisiana has a chance to change that dynamic. The rise of support businesses — post-production, animation houses and costumers – gives it the possibility of building a major new entertainment center. With its history, Louisiana offers more than just money and lavish praise for creators. It boasts a vibrant culture that that is not imitative of other regions or dependent on government; it is intrinsic to the place, and reflects a longstanding tradition that goes back centuries.

The rise of the local film industry has enabled the return of some creative former Louisianans who had been forced to ply their skills elsewhere. New Orleans native Huck Wirtz opened his Bayou FX post-production house in November 2010 after 17 years in the Golden State. “When I left here there was no industry to speak of,” notes Wirtz, a veteran of George Lucas’ Industrial Light and Magic. “We always had artists but they didn’t make much money. Now Louisiana culture is becoming an industry. People see the opportunity here to make this the next big place.”

Read the original article on Forbes.com