Salem Habte

Salem Habte is a Kansas City, MO native who relocated to New Orleans through a fellowship with Venture for America. With a foundation in social entrepreneurship, she has provided strong support to early-stage startups and accelerator programs and has led community-driven initiatives addressing food waste, water access, and financial literacy.
Salem leads business development at Greater New Orleans, Inc. (GNO, Inc.), driving strategies to attract and grow companies across energy, carbon management, materials, and consumer products. She also leads two key ecosystem initiatives: H2theFuture, which has received $74M from the U.S. Economic Development Administration and the State of Louisiana to advance clean energy solutions across the region through workforce development, technology demonstration, and innovation programs, and Startup Noir NOLA, which is dedicated to scaling Black-led startups in Greater New Orleans by easing founders' access to capital, connecting them to customers, and strengthening the region's community of Black founders, investors, and industry leaders.