Trumpet's big open NOLA studio
Real interesting post over on Alldaybuffet today about how New Orleans is becoming something of a “startup lab” for social innovation. The combination of the massive sense of responsibility along with the unique opportunities to rebuild are bringing social entrepreneurs out of the woodwork.
In an interview with Marktd, the founder of advertising agency Trumpet (tagline: “Don’t advertise. Connect.”) discusses how the focus on post-Katrina business has forced them to focus on turnaround and startup opportunities and has brought them into contact with a huge number of creative social entrepreneurs.
There’s definitely something moving in New Orleans. The first annual Clinton Global Initiative University program was held at Tulane University, and there was a hum and a buzz around the students, staff, and faculty that was unmatched even by Bill himself. I also saw some real creativity from New Orleans at the Netsquared Mashup Challenge, where a local group was working with Mapufacture to help citizens monitor the recovery of their city. One of EchoingGreen’s new fellow class, Green Coast Enterprises, is a NOLA-based architecture firm trying to design sustainable, storm-proof homes.
If anyone knows of more great projects, Alldaybuffet is launching “NOLA100″ to commemorate the 100 most inspiring and exciting ideas, projects and stories coming from post-Katrina New Orleans. You can read more here.
Anyone else know of cool stuff happening down there?
Charlie is a student of international development; a co-founder of Runa, a social enterprise producing sustainablly harvested high-energy teas and beverages from the Ecuadorian Amazon; a meditater; and a musician. You can reach him at caharding (at) gmail (dot) com
4 Comments
July 22, 2008 at 11:17 am
“Anyone else know of cool stuff happening down there?”
…Yeah, us. Climb onto da’Ladder and see. You are on today.
We have been following y’all all through the Mash UP and Get Down.
Thanks for following us,
Editilla~New Orleans Ladder
July 22, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Thanks for the link. Appreciate it. And will add those projects to the NOLA100 list!
July 22, 2008 at 10:33 pm
Nice point – that’s precisely the outcome that the Lt. Governor, Mitch Landrieu, envisioned. He started the first-ever Office of Social Entrepreneurship in 2006 (http://www.crt.state.la.us/ltgovernor/socialentrepreneurship/) to encourage precisely the movement you’ve noticed: bringing in smart, well-intentioned individuals from around the country to help the whole state. It’s certainly not the only reason for this convergence, but it’s a great, innovative start.
July 22, 2008 at 11:30 pm
[...] “New Orleans as a hub for social entrepreneurship innovation?” [Do Good Well] (tags: New_Orleans) [...]