After nearly 25 years working in economic development, including working for the state of Mississippi as a senior project manager and Entergy Mississippi as a business development manager, Taurus Wright joined Entergy New Orleans as Director of Business and Economic Development in April of 2022. In this role, Taurus has already begun leading his department, seeking out opportunities for businesses to relocate and expand to deepen the talented workforce in the city of New Orleans.
Why did you decide to come to New Orleans?
My first connection to New Orleans happened when I was a student at Southern Mississippi. Every school year, class was cancelled for Fat Tuesday, and New Orleans was less than two hours away, so we would all come down on the weekend and spend it in the city. Then, as I got older, New Orleans became my favorite place for a get-away. Now that I’m working here, downtown in the heart of the city, my appreciation for this unique place has only grown. From being able to walk out of my condo and eat at any number of world-class restaurants to ducking into a hotel bar to listen to music that you can only find in a city like this, my experiences in my short time of living in New Orleans give me the energy and passion to work toward helping this city grow.
What is economic development and why is it important?
Put simply, economic development is about marketing your property, site, or building. In my role, it’s my job to market the city of New Orleans to potential businesses. My team chases down leads to find companies looking to relocate or expand. We work with those companies to convince them that New Orleans is the right place for them to do business, while connecting them to local leaders, community partners and a variety of useful resources. When new companies come in and existing companies grow, our local economy improves, and the job market grows. It’s all about growing the footprint of the city of New Orleans.
What makes New Orleans an attractive place for business?
As a whole, the workforce in this country has been moving south. The Southern region is an attractive place for business because of the lower property tax rates down here. The city of New Orleans, in particular, has a lot to offer. Aside from a culture that you won’t find anywhere else, this city has multiple major rail lines, I-10, and the Port of New Orleans. We have all the major transportation networks here to move products and services around the world at a very inexpensive rate.
How do you envision the future of this City and how will Entergy New Orleans play a part in it?
New Orleans is obviously a major player in the commercial space. I come from an industrial background, so I see a lot of potential in growing this city’s industrial footprint. My team is going to be aggressive in ensuring that Entergy New Orleans is going to be a driving force in helping this city continue to develop commercially, while also attracting additional industrial businesses. At the end of the day, I want to help the City of New Orleans grow.
