FORBES | Tech Investment Is Helping Buffalo Come Back, But Immigrants Are The Real Secret

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"Rosa Kumba arrived in Buffalo, New York, in 2013, from a refugee camp in Congo. That was, coincidentally, the same year that former Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that the state would steer $1 billion to the long-suffering city to revive its Rust Belt misfortunes. Buffalo, once a national center of shipping, manufacturing and finance, had gradually become something of a national joke, known mostly for its bad winters and sports culture.

“I can’t tell you how many people have said to me, “I thought you were just beer and wings,” says Rebecca Brady, the founder of Top Seedz, the healthy-cracker company that employs Kumba – and is now expanding to a new manufacturing locating in Buffalo.

“But Buffalo has been really, really good to me.”

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