Seven visitors from Pakistan arrived in Pensacola last November as part of an U.S. State Department International Visitor Leadership Program project titled Improving Pakistan’s Ease of Doing Business. The goals of this project included to “provide exposure to new and growing businesses, focusing on business opportunities created by business-friendly tax policies…[and] explore the role of small business in driving local economic development and examine public and private efforts to promote small business development and innovation.” To accomplish these goals, the group’s itinerary combined a series of professional meetings with site visits.
To open the project in Pensacola, City Council Executive Don Kraher provided an overview of the city’s history and highlighted the functions of city government while answering any questions they had at a welcome orientation in the Council Chambers. The Pakistanis next met with Communications Director Tammy Ward of the Better Business Bureau of Northwest Florida to discuss how the organization promotes ethics and accountability in business practices.
Conversation in best practices continued with a meeting at Florida West Economic Development Alliance with Director of Marketing and Communications Sena Maddison where discussion focused on how organizations can work with local governments to develop incentives, financial and otherwise, for businesses to relocate or expand in a region. A further meeting and site visit at CareerSource Escarosa with Program Coordinator Jeffrey Dyer and Chief Operating Officer Katherine Karshna underscored how their office helps match job seekers with employers’ job openings and how they provide assistance with recruitment, employee training, and labor market information to local businesses.
Later, as a way for the visitors to have informal interaction with Americans, a dozen locals joined the group for a coffee discussion. The group also participated in a service opportunity at Feeding the Gulf Coast, a local food bank, to highlight the important role of volunteerism in American society.
By the end of their time in Pensacola, the visitors from Pakistan had an excellent idea of how business is encouraged in northwest Florida. Through Improving Pakistan’s Ease of Doing Business, locals shared their thoughts and expertise while learning more about the business climate in Pakistan. The Gulf Coast Citizen Diplomacy Council thanks all who interacted with this group. Your efforts helped make our visitors’ time here a success.
