Opportunity zones a 'game changer' for entrepreneurs: AOL co-founder Steve Case
Steve Case, the founder of AOL and CEO of Evolution, joins FOX Business’ Liz Claman at the annual SALT conference in Las Vegas, to discuss the future of entrepreneurship and his new fund "rise to the rest", which invests catalytic capital in the most promising start-ups outside of Silicon Valley, New York City and Boston.
AOL co-founder and former CEO Steve Case believes a "game changer" for new business is far from Silicon Valley. He said investments in opportunity zones will create a "terrific place for entrepreneurs to cluster."
"Fifty years ago you wanted to reinvent a neighborhood, you brought the artists in like SoHo in New York. Now you want to bring the entrepreneurs in but we need to build the infrastructure co-working space, mixed-use, to be supportive of those entrepreneurs," he told FOX Business’ Liz Claman during an interview at the SALT conference.
"The opportunity zones I think will create that incentive on the real estate side and also back some of the companies that are either in opportunity zones or might move to opportunity zones, which will increase the investment returns for those investors," he explained. "So I think it can be a game changer."
Case, who helped pass the legislation to create opportunity zones, which are intended to revive low-income economies in exchange for tax breaks, said mobilization and capital investments to the communities will speed up within the next year or two and give these communities "a shot."
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson told FOX Business on Thursday that the program represents a $100 billion of investments in its first year.