Looking to increase your contacts in the Boise and surrounding area business community? Whatever your local business networking needs, this event is right for you. Use the time to rub shoulders with those in banking, business, politics, and Boise-area nonprofit organizations. All will be gathered to meet one another and to honor local microentrepreneurs who are creating new businesses, new jobs, & bringing cultural and economic dividends to the communities in which they live, work, and play!

Networking hour: 5:30 PM, includes a beer and wine bar, first drink provided with your attendance.

The following beverages will be available, first drink included in the ticket price, thanks to our generous donors and sponsors!

• New Age White Wine (served over ice with lime) - donated by Wild West Wines
• Valentin V Chardonnay (white wine) – donated by Wild West Wines
• Valentin V Malbec (red wine) - donated by Wild West Wines
• Full Sail Amber Ale - donated via Hayden Beverage

The following beverages will be available, included in the ticket price, thanks to our generous donors and sponsors!

• New Age White Wine (served over ice with lime) - donated by Wild West Wines
• Lyeth Cabernet Sauvignon - donated by Wild West Wines
• DeLoach Chardonnay - donated by Wild West Wines
• Sierra Nevada Pale Ale - donated via Hayden Beverage

META’s honored clients

All dreams start somewhere. Some come to us when we are grown, as if out of nowhere, and some arise from the dreams of our ancestors. Some people need a little help in nurturing these dreams into reality. Just ask Asam Mujilli, Will Hay, Adriana Rengifo, or Neamah Ahmed how META has helped them to achieve their dreams of owning and operating their own businesses.

Asam could tell you about his father’s entrepreneurial spirit and how this led to his love of providing food for people. Or perhaps you’ll hear a story from Will of inner turmoil and the one simple life-long interest in t-shirts that offered a way out. Or Adriana could tell you about the school that her mother started in their small town in Colombia. She could tell you how she and her siblings taught at this school and how this influenced her co-founding of Mirgen, a pharmaceutical supplier that demands consistent quality standards for the Hispanic community in the United States and Central and South America. Or Neamah might tell you about how he saw a barber create beauty out of an unruly head of hair and thought that he could do something like that one day.

A quote from Asam- "No META in Boise, no business."

Local international food catering companies are some of META's clients, so we will provide you with a glimpse into the cultural diversity of flavors among those helped by META's business services and microloans.

Dividends through Diversity Menu

Salads

Tabouleh: A king of salads. Wheat bulgur, lemon juice, mint, select vegetables and olive oil

Lemon Yogurt Cucumber Salad: Crunchy, juicy, and refreshing (cucumbers grown by META client Rice Family Farms)

Starch

Biryani Rice: Found at events of great celebration throughout Asia and Arabia; a medley of basmati fava beans, and harvest-fresh vegetables

Entrée served with a selection of flatbread

Beef & Lamb Kebab: all-natural grass-fed beef combined with succulent lamb on a skewer. (beef raised by META client Homestead Natural Foods)

Chicken Kebab: all-natural chicken combined with veggies on a skewer.

For guests preferring a vegetarian selection:
Falafel: a Middle-Eastern specialty of ground chickpeas and spices

Dessert

Baklava: Deep, spicy sweetness of thick layers of chopped pistachios and walnuts sandwiched between thin sheets of pastry and married in honey syrup

German Streusel Apple Cake: a European fall classic - delicious flavors and textures, drizzled with caramel sauce (made by META catering client Denijal's Table)


Tonight's dinner except one dessert choice has been prepared by META client Ishtar Market & Restaurant - thank you!

There will be a a raffle drawing for the following system donating by DirecTV

• a satellite dish
• up to four leased receivers [1 DIRECTV Plus® HD DVR; 1 upgraded receiver (DIRECTV® DVR or DIRECTV® HD Receiver); 2 standard receivers] with remote controls
• standard professional installation for a residential setting
• one year of complimentary DIRECTV CHOICE XTRA™, plus DVR Service and HD Access (including local channels)
• one year of waived lease fees for up to a 4-room DIRECTV system

Value: up to $1,212 (depending on system)

For release: July 19, 2010 Contact Ron Berning 208-336-5533 X 230 rberning@mtnstatesgroup.org

 

META Plans International Dinner to Honor Seven New American Business Owners Boise

 

META, MicroEnterprise Training and Assistance, will hold its inaugural recognition and fundraising international dinner this fall to honor new American business owners. The dinner event 'Dividends through Diversity' will be held on Thursday, September 16, 2010 at the Barber Park Event Center from 4:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. The evening’s activities will include a networking hour, a hosted beer and wine bar, an authentic international dinner, ethnic music and dancing, and presentations honoring seven new American business owners. They include men and women originally from Afghanistan, Bosnia, Colombia, India, Iran, Iraq, and Kyrgyzstan. These entrepreneurs have launched businesses equally diverse including an auto dealership, food catering, website development services, martial arts studio, floral shop, lawn care/landscaping, and an alterations store, respectively.

 

“We have thousands of very small business owners in our community—those that hire up to four employees are responsible for employing nearly 43,000 people in Ada County alone and our ‘Dividends through Diversity’ event is an opportunity to recognize seven of them and to encourage others to follow the same path to self-employment,” says META Program Director Ron Berning,. “It is also a time to recognize the cultural diversity and economic vitality these important local businesses bring to the communities in which they live.”

 

META is a nonprofit microenterprise program of Mountain States Group, Inc. It started operations in 2002 with a federal grant from the Office of Refugee Resettlement to provide technical assistance, business plan training, and microloans to refugees living in Idaho that had fled their homelands due to ethnic, religious, or political persecution. Since that time, META has broadened its funding base so as to include immigrants, women, minorities, and other disadvantaged entrepreneurs.

 

Cost to attend the Dividends through Diversity international dinner event is $60. Table sponsorships are available for $600 and include a table for eight, company name in event program, table signage, and preferred placement.

 

For more information about this event, go to www.metaidaho.org or contact Ron Berning at ron@metaidaho.org or call 336.5533 ext. 230. ##############