Ramlah's Blog - #2: First week review

I got a new experience last week by participating in the International Round Up (IRU) at the Riverside Hotel, which is organized by the state tourism office. Even though I only participated the last day of the IRU, I got the opportunity to see how Visit Boise pitched the city as a preferred tourism destination to several different groups. Nearly 60 organizations from around the Great American West region participated in the IRU, and 40 international and domestic buyers from more than 10 countries. When I accompanied Visit Boise (Lucas Gebhart) doing promotion to more than 30 travel agencies about Boise’s features. I got some good information about Boise, too. I was thinking of adding some of the places Lucas mentioned to my list of places to visit on weekends during my time in Boise.
Boise provides outdoor recreation, including great activities such as hiking and biking through its Greenbelt area. You can also visit the West part of Yellowstone as one awesome weekend destination. During the marketing presentations, I also heard a nice impression from a travel agent that Boise is a really nice place, beautiful and clean, also has many good restaurants and good choices for food. All the positive comments were really in tune with my personal impression about Boise.

I also had great experience participating at the Idaho Technology Council Capital Connect Conference at JUMP with Beth Ineck, Director of Economic Development of BEVP and Sierra White, Marketing and Events Manager of BVEP.
I heard many founders and CEOs share their experience and how they started and become successful in their business. Some advice that I caught for running the business were that it is important to get out and listen to the market and let the market be the guide. Besides that, it is good to be passionate about client success. For example, when preparing contracts, we try to shift and put ourselves in our clients’ shoes. In business, commitment to building an outstanding and engaging team and developing culture of continued innovation and improvement will contribute to the success.

All the inspiring, successful speakers led me to think about whether it is possible for me to start my own business and be as successful as they are, and thus contribute directly to improve the economy of my community. I am thinking about one kind of business in particular: provide lending to small businesses in my country, and helping them grow. It might be an idea for my project after this YSEALI PFP program, as I know this might be apart from my current job at the Ministry of Finance.

I went early to the office on Thursday morning, write my first blog, and sent it to Ms. Holly for reviewing before post it on Boise Metro Chamber website. Then, Thursday evening, Boise Metro Chamber hosted a Business After Hours Trade Show, and many organizations showed their products and services. It was an opportunity to have conversation with people too. I had chit-chat with two salespeople from a travel agency before I left the office. I just introduced myself and asked them a little bit about their product. It was nice to meet new people.

On Friday morning, I observed a Zoom call between Beth Ineck, BVEP’s Economic Development Director and Julian, the Economic Health Manager from City Fort Collins, Colorado, and Senoah, the Economic Health Director. This call was one way that BVEP coordinates with business and government partners. This Zoom call was a part of the City of Fort Collins’ preparation for their visit to Boise next week. They both introduced their organizations and talked about their advocacy, and Beth explained BVEP’s activities and how the organizations are alike. By the way, there is not much I can share about what I caught during the Zoom call, since I was just observing and I was trying to understand about this organization, while at the same time improving my English listening skill. All of the activities during my placement at the first week were pretty interesting, and hope to learn more interesting things in the next coming weeks.