The Divide

Mike Green wants black America in the 21st-century tech economy. He plans to start the revolution in one of the country’s whitest cities.

Burger built

0712 BurgerBuilt 01Good burger joints aren’t rare, but Little Big Burger in Portland stands out for its big profits and rapid expansion.

Chill factor

0712 Tactics 03Strawberries and low-cost energy, two abundant Oregon resources, prompted Oregon Freeze Dry to set up shop in Albany in 1963.

At 26, “my businesses are my life”

0712 Dispatches YoungInnovatorHe runs a successful business growing and selling exotic coral from around the world. He gets fabric from China and has it sewn into cloth flowerpots at a factory in the Philippines, which he then imports and sells nationwide. And yet 26-year-old Ian McMenamin failed his international distribution class at the University of Oregon three times.

Climbing the startup ladder

0712 GamePlan LadderTite 02Ron Gandy and his son, Justin, were well into the development of their ladder-safety device, Ladder-Tite, in 2011 when Justin unexpectedly passed away at age 21. The loss nearly derailed the entire endeavor.