In early January, we welcomed a group of visitors from the Palestinian Territories as part of an International Visitor Leadership Program looking at Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development.
This high-energy group hit the ground running with a visit to the National Naval Aviation Museum the day after arriving; and their professional program began with a visit to Pensacola City Hall, where they were welcomed by Councilman Charles Bare. Next, the visitors headed to Community Enterprise Investments, Inc. (CEII) for a meeting with Grover Brown and his colleagues which addressed financial support for small businesses and startups.
After lunch and a brief meeting for some of the group with Kelly Greene, local entrepreneur and owner of Four Seasons Eatery, the visitors enjoyed a community coffee discussion attended by local entrepreneurs and others in the business community. Invited participants included Donovan C. Chau, Ph.D., Alison Davenport, Ed Gray, Brice Harris, Ph.D, James Hosman, Kelly Massey, Julie Montgomery, Pete Nowak, Jay Patel, Lloyd Reshard, Dick Rizzo, Charles Stauffer, Jibril Sulaiman, and Dorian Zwierewicz.
The next day, the Palestinian group’s first professional appointment was with Ric Nickelsen at BBVA Compass bank to address small business banking. Afterwards, the visitors met with Kelly Reeser to highlight the work of the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
Next, it was off to Emerald Coast Tours, a local company that was a beneficiary of a loan from CEII that helped it get started. Owner Nick Schuck talked about the benefit of that financing and even let the visitors test his segways.
The professional program in Pensacola ended at the University of West Florida where Kelly Reeser again hosted the group, giving them the opportunity to sit in on a class of the Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA!). The visitors were impressed by this chamber initiative to spur entrepreneurship among young students.
The Gulf Coast Citizen Diplomacy Council thanks all of those mentioned above for volunteering their time and for meeting with these international guests.
