This is an opinion column

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Larry Ellison announced this week he plans to make Nashville Oracle’s world headquarters.

National media announced this week that JD Sports plans to acquire Hibbett, a public company headquartered here in Birmingham.

Birmingham used to have 30 public companies headquartered here. Now we will drop from eight to seven.

There is hope for Birmingham…but it doesn’t appear to be coming from big companies moving their headquarters here.

Birmingham’s economic future may depend on people not born in America.

This thought came to me while watching CBS 60 Minutes about Quantum Computing, a revolutionary new kind of technology that will solve problems in minutes that would take today’s supercomputers millions of years.

The 60 Minutes story proclaims that the country that’s most successful with Quantum Computing and Artificial Intelligence will lead the world.

What struck me was that every single expert interviewed about Quantum Computing lived in America, but was born outside the U.S.

This made me think back to the most read column in ComebackTown’s twelve year history: Local Entrepreneur sells company for $1.2 billion—big win for Birmingham.

The column tells the story of Shegun Otulana who moved to Birmingham in 1998 from Lagos, Nigeria to attend UAB, where he studied engineering and management information systems.

Shortly after graduation, he started Zertis, a computer software company.

He then founded TheraNest, a software solution for mental and behavioral health providers.

In May of 2021, he sold Therapy Brands, TheraNest’s parent company, for $1.2 billion.

Then he founded Harmony Venture Labs (HVL), an entity whose goal “over the next 10 years is to launch 40 new startups in Birmingham– with an aggregate value in the billions of dollars.”

Another huge Birmingham business success

In January, 2022, Pack Health, another Birmingham startup, was sold to Quest Diagnostics for $123 million in cash.

Pack Health was founded by Dr. Mazi Rasulnia, Will Wright, and Dr. Sanjay Singh. Dr. Rasulnia was born in Persia and Dr. Singh in India.

In January of this year, Pack Health announced plans to double the size of its headquarters in Birmingham and add 200 additional employees.

All three of the aforementioned men either graduated from or worked at UAB.

Other non-native born Americans with ties to UAB include Anupam Agarwal, Senior VP Medicine & Dean UAB Heersink School of Medicine and Dr. Keshav K Singh, a UAB scientist, inventor, and business man who is known for his work unlocking the mysteries of mitochondria in Life and Longevity. He is among Stanford’s list of the top 2% of scientists in the world. Both men are from India.

I have a heart valve problem and my doctor is Dr. Mustafa Ahmed, a world renowned UAB interventional cardiologist who treats heart valve and structural heart disease. Since its likely one day I will need a replacement heart valve, I’m fortunate Dr. Ahmed is at UAB. Dr. Ahmed was born in Nottingham, England.

Zeke Hernandez, a Wharton Professor and global strategist, recently published a groundbreaking book, “Why successful societies welcome newcomers, The Truth about Immigration.

He writes that “nearly half of the companies in the Fortune 500 were founded by immigrants or their children. Immigrants today are responsible for 36% of all patents in the U.S. And immigrants are 80% more likely than native born to start their own business.”

The Birmingham Lede states that Jefferson County’s population declined almost 2% since 2020 with 3,417 people moving away. However, 818 people made an international move to the Birmingham area making Jefferson County the top spot in the state for international arrivals.

We must welcome immigrants to Birmingham

For folks who get upset when they hear the word ‘immigration,’ this column is about legal immigration, not illegal immigration. We must not confuse the two.

UAB gives us the mechanism to take advantage of the talents of people born anywhere in the world.

We must recognize that men and women born outside the USA, many associated with UAB, will define Birmingham’s future.

Author’s note: There are scores of immigrant scientists, doctors, business people and professionals making a difference in Birmingham. Please free to include their names in the comments section.

David Sher is the founder and publisher of ComebackTown. He’s past Chairman of the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce (BBA), Operation New Birmingham (REV Birmingham), and the City Action Partnership (CAP).

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Invite David to speak for free to your group about how we can have a more prosperous metro Birmingham. [email protected].