CHICAGO (Reuters.com) - Longstanding stereotypes of Appalachia conjure images of a backwater region blighted by poverty. Now the state of Ohio is working to change that perception by promoting the region as an emerging hotbed for startups in industries such as high tech and alternative energy.
Entrepreneurs like Craig Newbold, a software developer who grew up locally in the town of East Liverpool along the Ohio River between Youngstown and Pittsburgh, are betting on the area's future. Newbold returned home after retiring from an information technology career in Seattle to found software development firm Newbold Technologies in 2003, with the aim of creating local opportunities.
"To me, areas like this have a lot of diamonds in the rough," said Newbold, whose father made his living running a local filling station in the area once known as the ‘pottery capital of the world.' "People that want to live here have the aptitude and the ability, but need to be developed."
To read the full, original article click on this link: Entrepreneurs changing the image of Appalachia | Reuters
Author: Deborah
L. Cohen
