Opportunity Nevada equals economic development

Opportunity Nevada strives to provide information to businesses so that companies succeed here in Nevada. They provide education about incentives, resources and opportunities that make Nevada the right place to move a business.

“We are an outside of the state marketing initiative,” Opportunity Nevada spokeswoman Cheree Boteler said in an interview.

More specifically, “Opportunity Nevada is a collaborative marketing initiative created to promote Nevada economic development efforts when more than one entity is involved in a specific campaign such as a site visit, trade show, recruiting trip, etc.”

Opportunity Nevada was established about two years ago when NV Energy’s economic development sector had the resources to put the initiative in motion. According to Opportunity Nevada’s website, the goals of the initiative are to “provide a portal to access information from various entities, promote collaborative marketing efforts with partners throughout the state and raise awareness of Nevada by sharing partner information via print, web, email and social media.”

Opportunity Nevada is a statewide initiative and works with government agencies like the Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development, Northern Nevada Development Authority and Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada.

“We want to bring companies here and make them stay here,” Boteler explained.

Opportunity Nevada works to initiate a conversation with a company to see if there is any interest in Nevada, or learning more of what Nevada has to offer them if they move their company here.

“If they are interested we will go out and meet them,” Boteler said.

At this point of the process, one or some of the appropriate partners that comprise Opportunity Nevada will go meet with a perspective company.

“Most of the time when companies are already looking at Nevada they know where they want to go, whether that is rural, Reno or Las Vegas,” Boteler explained. In these situations, the fitting partners under Opportunity Nevada step in and work with the company. Ultimately, Opportunity Nevada will work with a company to find the location that best fits their company needs.

Step one is to show companies what Nevada has to offer and get them to choose Nevada. Step two, once they have chosen Nevada, is to bring in specific entities where they want to be. For example, if they were interested in Reno, EDAWN may step in.

“We have a good mix of resources,” Boteler said regarding the partners under Opportunity Nevada.

“Our state is very collaborative,” she explained. “We can make things happen, fast. All of us are working together, (which) helps the entire state,” Boteler said.

Boteler explained part of the collaborative effort to make companies want to stay and the importance of being the answer to questions like, “How do we (Opportunity Nevada) make sure companies are happy and have resources they need? What can we do to help them?”

The collaborative efforts under Opportunity Nevada are working to grow as a resource beyond successfully moving companies to Nevada.

“We want companies to think of Opportunity Nevada when they are here too,” Boteler said.

In the future, Opportunity Nevada hopes to help local companies expand within the state too. They hope to be a supply for information regarding resources, incentives, and opportunities within the state.

Boteler summarized that, “We want to market Nevada. We want good companies and we want to fill in more companies as resources under Opportunity Nevada.”

They are looking at companies that will help diversify Nevada’s economy and “opportunities with higher wages, not just distribution, so Opportunity Nevada is also looking at opportunities for advanced manufacturing and other industries,” Boteler explained.

Regarding the resources under Opportunity Nevada, Boteler explained that instead of being silos, they want to be a brain trust and capitalize on resources.

To learn more about Opportunity Nevada or join the collaborative marketing initiative, visit www.opportunitynevada.com or contact Cheree Boteler (775) 834-3755.