Transatlantic Triumph

Times might be tough for Gulf Coast business owners, but local entrepreneur Ryan Skrzypkowski is willfully ignorant about the downturn.

After all, Skrzypkowski, who co-runs a property maintenance firm, is only 24, so a recession is essentially all he knows. Plus, Skrzypkowski and his sister/business partner, Leanne Varney, moved to Sarasota in 2010 from Nottingham, England — a depressed mining town they say is worse off than most places on the Gulf Coast.

“There are so many motivated people here,” says Skrzypkowski. “This place has opportunity written all over it.”