Comeback Town is an opinion column exploring all things Birmingham. It is coordinated by David Sher. Today’s guest columnist is Emily Wykle.
For a long time, ambitious entrepreneurs in Alabama learned the same lesson early: if you wanted to build something big, you would probably have to leave. That belief shaped more than their careers.
It shaped where companies were headquartered, where jobs landed and where economic opportunity bloomed.
The old assumption
Birmingham, Huntsville, Mobile and Montgomery produced smart, capable entrepreneurs. But when it came time to grow, many were told the same thing: serious investment lived somewhere else…