News Release: African Women Connect (AWC) Introduces New Spotlight Column to Help Community-based Businesses, Organizations and Leaders Tell their Story

For Immediate Release

March 10, 2011

Contact: africanwomenconnect@hotmail.com

612-250-8478

African Women Connect (AWC) Introduces New Spotlight Column to Help Community-based Businesses, Organizations and Leaders Tell their Story

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn – AWC is responding to a community need for no to low cost marketing for small businesses, organizations and community advocates that have a tough time getting the word out about their existence, products and services. The new spotlight column will be an addition to AWC monthly e-newsletter that goes out to a cross-section of mostly African ethnic groups, including members of the mainstream population.

Community-based businesses require the support of community members to keep their doors open. Marketing is always a challenge for small businesses and even more so for ethnic minority businesses. In most cases, people in the community are just not aware that these businesses exist. With limited budgets and a challenging economy, investing in marketing is usually not top priority but nevertheless critical for business survival.

“We have been supporting community businesses several years and we are proud of this  initiative. However, an ongoing challenge has been finding such businesses and once we do, hoping that they would stay in business long enough to continue our support. Word of mouth is the primary way community-based businesses get the word out and we have seen time and time again that sometimes it is just not fast enough to keep the doors open,” says Rita Apaloo, AWC founder and president. “We hope that this will be a another avenue to continue our initiative of supporting our community.

A separate blog site will be established to keep the stories posed for business owners and the general public to continue to access. AWC will rely on its e-newsletter audience to help advertise this opportunity to community-based businesses. Anyone interested or would like more information about the project should contact AWC at africanwomenconnect@hotmail.com or 612-250-8578. Interested participants will be asked to respond to ten questions and provide a photo or logo. AWC hopes to have the first business spotlighted in its April newsletter.

About AWC

African Women Connect, LLC (AWC) is a Minnesota-based organization that promotes networking and relationship building for friendship, business and community. AWC also provides opportunities for personal development, sharing information and community involvement. More at www.africanwomenconnect.net.

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