Qwally

The International Economic Development Council outdid itself at the 2024 annual conference in Denver, Colorado. The event was more diverse than ever, with over 300 first-time attendees. It was great to reconnect with my friends from Philadelphia (Anne Bovaird Nevins, Frank Robinson, MBA, and new PIDC staff) and strengthen relationships with my Washingtonian economic development peers (Gary Ballew, CEcD, Aleksandr Yeremeyev, Josh Davis, MBA, CEcD, PSLO, Chris Mefford, Linda Alongi, and John A. Waller Jr.), including Alaska’s own Jenna Wright. I'm eager to stay connected with several economic development experts, including Nathan Ohle, Dell Gines, Leonard Sledge, Tracye McDaniel, 👊🏾 Lyneir Richardson, and Daniel Ryley, CEcD. It was also nice to share moments with the IEDC Excellence Award Winners, Economic Recovery Fellows, and our resource directory vendor, Qwally. See everyone in Detroit for IEDC 2025, and hopefully, IEDC Seattle will be a future conference destination! Once again, thank you for awarding the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce's Community Business Connector program. Denver, you are a wonderful host and true regional collaborator in building an entrepreneurial ecosystem. While in Denver, I stopped by your Startup Week HQ event presented by Amazon.

📣📣📣 The Seattle Metro Chamber, King County, WA & Port of Seattle receives International Economic Development Council's 2024 Excellence in Economic Development Silver Award for Regional or Cross-Border Partnership for the Community Business Connector program! Read all about it here: https://bit.ly/4e5cj86

Melissa Bradley just gave THE speech of #IEDCDenver. Take risk on new and diverse ideas and entrepreneurship will build the inclusive community wealth we all want to see. 1. Wake up every day and understand the power of entrepreneurship, including those who don’t look like you. 2. When investing, what is comfortable is not profitable. What could happen if we all got a little bit more uncomfortable? 3. Have fun. Entrepreneurship is the best possible think that can happen to anybody because I offers economic freedom. International Economic Development Council

Watch Andy Stoll at #IEDCDenver explain the transformation our communities must make to help innovation thrive. The answers are found in entrepreneurial ecosystem building - connecting the dots between local innovators and the learning, resources, and support needed to thrive. If you like what we’re doing at Qwally, make it a point to reach out to Andy and learn about his lifelong journey to build community networks. #entrepreneruship | #ecosystembuilding| #economicdevelopment | #communitydevelopment | #workforcedevelopment | International Economic Development Council

🎉 Today, our partners, the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, WON the Excellence in Economic Development Award for Regional or Cross-Border Partnership at #IEDCDenver! 🥇 The Qwally team is honored to power the Community Business Connector and help more small businesses and entrepreneurs reach their dreams in King County! Congratulations Vaughn Taylor and the fabulous team of connectors for the well-deserved win! ➡ Read the Press Release: https://lnkd.in/giHh2NaJ ➡ See the Community Business Connector in action: https://lnkd.in/gCFTgtwE ➡ Learn how Qwally supports Business Retention and Expansion: https://lnkd.in/gbb7KQeT #partnership | #technology | #entrepreneurship | #smallbusiness | #BRE International Economic Development Council

➡ How do you start an entrepreneurial ecosystem that achieves results? ➡ How do your programs work with others to build local wealth? Those were some of the questions we aimed to answer today at #IEDCDenver. It was so fun collaborating with Liz DeChant, MPA, Courtney Wynn, Alex Cooley, CEcD, and Ernest Neptune with great facilitation by Kimberly Tiefenthaler, EDFP, CBA. Here's a process we came up with together: 1. Build your stakeholder group; who is advocating to build local wealth in your area? 2. Create your ideal persona; who do you want to support in starting and growing businesses? 3. Learn as much as possible about your ideal persona and their barriers/challenges. 4. Make your vision; collaborate and envision the end state you want to see. 5. Map out the journey; write out steps for how someone gains entrepreneurial literacy, capital, and support to start and grow their business. 6. Identify your gaps; make a list of your strengths and identify your weaknesses in that journey. 7. Get access to power and start prioritizing fixes. #IEDCDenver | #EconomicDevelopment | #Denver | #Conference | #IEDC | Four Directions Development Corporation | Alexandria Economic Development Partnership | Village of Winnetka | Qwally | International Economic Development Council

🐝 We’re still buzzing from our incredible time at State of GovTech catching up with old and new partners alike. Good news though, we get to talk even more about #entrepreneurship, #smallbusiness, and creating an inclusive economy that works from the bottom up at #IEDCDenver starting TODAY! Connect with Brandon Gumm and Jeremy Shackett on the Whova! ❤️ And thank you International Economic Development Council for the opportunity and cheers to a fantastic conference! 🥂 🍻

Happy 913 Day, Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, KS! 🎉 🥂 Today, the #UG is launching their brand-new Local Business Directory, exclusively for small businesses in the 913 area code and powered by Qwally. Whether you’re a local café, boutique shop, restaurant, or service provider, this tool will put your business on the map making it easier for folks to find and support you. 📍The Local Business Directory will boost entrepreneurship and small businesses in the UG by helping residents, visitors, and organizations find authentic and local UG business. ⭐ Request to be featured on the local directory by creating a free profile on DotteBiz today - https://bit.ly/4gl1gZZ #913Day #KCK #SupportLocal #SmallBusiness #Entrepreneurship

We’re saying goodbye to #KCMO and a fantastic State of GovTech 2024 conference. Congratulations CivStart, National League of Cities, The KC BizCare Office, and Government Technology on the big turnout full of startup pride. Next stop? We’re off to the City and County of Denver for International Economic Development Council’s annual conference next week! See you all there! #IEDCDenver #IEDC #Denver #EconomicDevelopment #ProfessionalDevelopment

"Anecdotally all day I can tell you we are doing some work!" Tara Palacios shares how she joined the National League of Cities's CIE program to get help demonstrating her team's impact at BizLaunch, Arlington's Small Business Assistance Network at the State of GovTech 2024 with Corianne Rice.