The Editor’s View: February 2019 Issue

By Katrice L. Mines, Editor
Kmines@atlantatribune.com

One thing remains constant about Atlanta — it’s an opportunity hub for the “self-starter.” Ranked the No. 3 city in the United States for startups, entrepreneurs built Atlanta and it’s entrepreneurship that fuels the state capital. And so when we survey the city for up-and-coming figureheads and community drivers, we so often look beyond the obvious corporate and political spheres for the bootstrappers
who are setting the pace. There’s no shortage as the entrepreneurial ecosystem here is thriving. This is where companies like Coca-Cola, Delta, The Home Depot, Atlanta Braves and the City of Atlanta come in; they get it and prove that they get it with their dollars.

When Atlanta Tribune was founded three decades ago, it was because there was a need to spread the word about the opportunities and dollars available for ready entrepreneurs and small businesses to do business with the city’s larger corporations. That meant business certifications were in place, inventory was available and the ability for a small company to scale itself had been planned. In the traditional business model, those factors are still in play. But, what has caused a renaissance in Atlanta, for black startups, is the new entrepreneurs’ ability to find and in many cases provide the resources for their peers to get on, as well.

And so all parts are working together — from the corporations to the academic institutions to the city government and entrepreneurs alike. This, I imagine, is the Atlanta that former mayor Maynard Jackson Jr. imagined. It is, according to Burunda Prince, Comcast  NBCUniversal’s Atlanta-based startup accelerator The Farm’s managing director, a city where “entrepreneurship is both more inclusive and expansive with room for everyone from academic institutions to corporations to communities to thrive and prosper.”

Winning.