Potential customer feedback

Kymus Ginwala, 84, male, Director at Ginwala Associates 

"I'm a sucker for anything entrepreneurial and for innovation so you have me hooked."

Mr. Ginwala came to the US from India to get an engineering degree from MIT and ultimately remained in the US. He likes the idea of having a resource for Asian residents, but thinks one of the first things to be done is to identify the customer base; how big is it and how diverse in terms of language and skills. "Define your customers and talk to them to assess their needs and thinking."

Another idea he thinks would be beneficial is to have a section focused on helping Asian seniors understand the NH environment better. "The young children get acclimated quickly, but the elders get left behind. So health is an issue and information on this can be very useful."

He suggested that one of the first steps should be to have discussions with peers at UNH to get a better understanding of culture and adapting culture to a new setting. He likes the 'Why NH' idea because it "broadens the local population's view of immigration."

 He also had some ideas for content including:

• Profile a restaurant and business regularly to help them attract business but also to encourage them to advertise.
• Profile non-Asian businesses that want to attract the Asian customer.
• Have a section on Asian food with help for a recipe from the appropriate restaurant or business which attracts people who like to cook as well as places to buy the ingredients. (This would be for local NH residents but helps the Asian restaurant and encourages advertising)
• The NH agencies which help immigrants settle in as well as the non-profits could be important links.

"The website will be an evolving issue with some successes and some failures the latter being important to the progress and development of the eventual site."

 

Emily Siel, 16, female, high school student 

"If it was out there, I would definitely read it."

Ms. Siel is a high school junior who has lived in New Hampshire her whole life. She's never been to Asia, but has learned about it through the experiences of others. She thinks that the website would be interesting to read and something new, since she's not aware of anything else like it in the region. She doesn't think she would ever pay a subscription because "this topic is not in my usual area of interest," but would read it if it were available to the public for free. She was most interested in the 'Why NH?' series because it would be a cool way to hear a story she'd otherwise never have heard.

Alicia Edwards, 21, female, business student

"I think this is an extremely well crafted idea and you've thought of all of the appropriate avenues to cover."

Ms. Edwards is studying business at UNH and has also taken Mandarin language and Chinese culture classes. She thinks that the "ideas and articles are on point and interesting" and that the website would be a great source of information and entertainment. "I think it's similar to a town website (in a good way) but not something I would pay for." She believes that due to "the way the internet is, the information would be somewhere else and easy to go to find it."

However, something she would pay for and thinks would act as a way to inform and involve the community is to host an event similar to UNH's U-Day. She suggested a $10 admission fee to go to an event that is basically an all-out culture festival. Restaurants, clubs, stores, could all be there to show their wares and talk to the public. The website would act as the connecting link and could not only let people know about it, but also bring in some money.