CREATING OPPORTUNITY – HURRICANE IRMA DRIVES ENTREPRENEURISM

CREATING OPPORTUNITY – HURRICANE IRMA DRIVES ENTREPRENEURISM

❏ Today, I’m speaking on Creating Opportunity: Hurricane IRMA Drives Entrepreneurism. This week, you’ll learn how natural disasters like hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, and earthquakes can create tremendous entrepreneurial opportunities! Want to learn how? Let’s get started!

One of my responsibilities as an executive coach is to help founders advance from the idea stage to the build stage. This past week saw the largest evacuation of US citizens ever. More than 6.3M Floridians (Link) alone were ordered to evacuate.

Some estimated more than 8 million people left their homes as Hurricane IRMA demolished some Caribbean islands, then struck the Florida Keys (Link), leaving a wake of destruction. Parts of Miami’s downtown district (Link) were under several feet of water as the storm took a hard right.

It headed up the Gulf side of Florida, coming ashore in Naples, FL, as a category four hurricane packing 142-mph winds. In this post, Creating Opportunity: Hurricane IRMA Creates Entrepreneurs, I address the entrepreneurial opportunities a disaster offers. This post will focus on the “idea stage” of starting a business.

Creating Opportunity: Why Destruction Drives Entrepreneurism

When something is severely damaged or destroyed, you can replace it with something better. This is creating opportunities. If your TV falls over and breaks, you’ll likely buy a new one. Will you replace it with the same TV you had before? It is only likely if you purchased your TV within the last few months.

Why?

Technology marches forward. It is no longer manufactured; if your TV is over 12 months old, it is no longer manufactured. The same is true of infrastructure. The island of Barbuda had over 95% of its structures destroyed by Category 5 Hurricane Irma. No power, water, houses, or buildings escaped Irma’s wrath. For the first time in 300 years, the island was evacuated.

The island of Barbuda is in what many would call a “clean slate” stage of development after Irma. Its residents have a choice. The island’s infrastructure had an assortment of electrical, water, sewer, and building technologies built over a century. They can take this time to rethink “how” to “redesign” all of the infrastructure. They can decide to rebuild the island to withstand another Category 5 hurricane like Irma. Or, they can slap something together quickly and see it smashed by the next Irma.

What are the Entrepreneurial Opportunities? [Creating Opportunity]

Just about everything. Start with Building codes. Review and change them immediately.

• All structures must be required to be constructed above the flood stage.
• Allow only reinforced concrete structures for homes and businesses.
• Require hurricane windows and shutters.
• Demand roofing materials and designs that will survive 100% intact in a Category 5 hurricane.
• Require all underground, waterproof electrical power.
• Demand that all power substations be built 10 feet above high tide and 20 feet above a 20-foot storm surge.
• All hospitals and retirement communities must have emergency generators and fuel that can last for 7 days.
• Give credits to homes and businesses that install solar power and batteries for “off-grid.”
• Build intelligent, high-tech buildings and harbors.

The above is just a partial list. I hope this article on creating opportunities has got your entrepreneurial juices flowing. Thatch huts may look “authentic,” but will they survive a Category 5 hurricane? Do you have the design for one that could still be native”?

Won’t this Cost a Lot of Money? [Creating Opportunity]

Yes, but the additional costs will be paid in a single storm. If Barbuda, the other islands, and Florida communities don’t “rebuild smartly,” the next storm could wipe out the rebuild again. Also, the ability to restart the tourism business within hours of a significant hurricane is critical for cash flow. I live in Tampa, FL, and I can tell you that the general impression is that most of the Caribbean and the Florida Keys won’t be viable tourist spots for 6+ months. In some cases, perhaps years. The loss to the cruise ship business alone could likely reach the billions.

Conclusion [Creating Opportunity]

I hope this article, “Creating Opportunity: Hurricane Irma Drives Entrepreneurship,” convinces you that with destruction comes opportunity! Hurricane Irma, which ravaged the Caribbean, Florida Keys, and Florida, has created many new entrepreneurs. The challenge for all entrepreneurs out there is to get involved and help. Help by volunteering. Help by bringing your talents to these locations so that we don’t see a repeat of Irma’s destruction. If nothing else, help by giving cash to the Red Cross and similar organizations with boots on the ground.

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