Web Site Helps Minority-Owned Businesses
Oct. 26, 2009
Thomas Gnau
A Web site aimed at giving minority-owned businesses the tools they need to succeed has had a successful first several months, its CEO said today, Oct. 26.
Sean Fields, chief executive for the site DaytonMinorityBiz.com, launched in May, said the site is a "platform for minority businesses, to get more exposure. We use a number of different social media tactics in order to do that."
Visit the site and you can see podcasts, blogs and free registration, among other tools. Businesses can put themselves in the directory, which Fields said will help them get picked up in online searches.
Today, more than 300 local businesses have found a place in the directory, Fields said.
"That's the missing piece," he said. The site aims to give minority-owned or women-owned businesses a Web presence and a "clearinghouse" to get noticed.
Said Fields, "We help those businesses to be found."
Achieving "MBE" (minority business enterprise) or "WBE" (woman business enterprise) certification can help companies win attention from state and federal government. Englewood resident Sean and his wife, Shawntay, have their own business, Dayton's Internet search optimization firm Comtactics, so the road is familiar to them.
"When we were starting our business about five years ago, it was hard for us to find the right agency to go to in order to launch our business," Fields recalled. "We didn't know what direction to take."
One reason Fields was inspired to start the site was knowing that Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland had put together a task force to help minority-owned businesses become certified as MBEs, which paves the way for competing for state contracts. He saw the need.
"We're slipping in there and just kind of filling that void," he said.
The site and its services could grow statewide, he believes. The process is "scalable," so "OhioMinorityBiz.com" is a possibility, he said.
Source: Copyright (C) 2009, Dayton Daily News, Ohio
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