For the history books...

For the history books and our own benefit we though it best to fill the gap between now and when we arrived back in Spain after our travels, so here's the abridged version of what we got up to in the first half of 2006...

Late January we got down to FITUR in Madrid, Spain´s main tourism trade fair, to see the local industry in action and participated in an online tourism seminar put on by the World Tourism Organisation. Given Spain is one of the most popular destinations globally it was no surprise to find ourselves confronted with acres of stands. A vertitable paradise for anyone who can't resist collecting lots of brightly coloured brochures at these sorts of events.

We enjoyed chatting to some of the local tourism authorities about their current plans and priorities, though I’m not quite sure what function the azafatas (hostesses) perform apart from beautifying the stands, most didn’t seem to know much about the product they were representing.


February saw us kick off the legal process of starting up the company here with registration of business names, tax registration and similar arrangements, most of which was wrapped in a thick bundle of bureaucratic red tape. Most steps we took over the next couple of months seemed to involve getting official stamps and waiting a couple of weeks for a variety of different pieces of paper.

Good news was that we were accepted by the local Chamber of Commerce into their Business Incubator program and were soon able to hang a sign on the door, shop for stationery and most importantly acquire a white board (an essential accessory to brainstorm and workshop in any start-up).

The opening of our first office here in Spain (and those of the other companies with which we share the building) was also accompanied by a press conference with various politicians and local business leaders. This gave Catalina her first chance to meet the press and spread the news about Roadmap and after a crash course in media relations she achieved some excellent coverage with the regional TV, radio and newspapers. From the regional press, Catalina below with Rosa who manages the business centre for the Chamber of Commerce.

February also saw me head to Dubai for a brief consulting engagement with the Middle East office of UK based research firm, YouGov. Office the world over look much the same...

The view from the window is usually more interesting...

Dubai is an interesting place with a sharp contrast between the desert, traditional Arabic culture and Islam; and booming business, trade and construction sectors. Apparently it has a large proportion of the world’s construction cranes and large swathes of town are construction sites. The food was great and the warm weather a relief from the cold and rain in Europe at this time of year.