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In the Spotlight > Small business workshop is held as part of outreach to African immigrants

Small business workshop is held as part of outreach to African immigrants

Posted March 3, 2007

The International Center for Democratic Governance (ICDG) recently joined with the university's Small Business Development Center and International Public Service and Outreach Office to hold a free workshop at Gwinnett College aimed at helping minorities interested in starting their own businesses and working with counterparts in Africa. The workshop came as follow-up to suggestions offered by participants attending the first African Leadership Seminar sponsored by ICDG and funded by the Office of the Vice President of Public Service and Outreach in 2006.

"Those attending the March 3 workshop represented a range of African nations of origin, including Kenya, Ghana, Benin, and Nigeria," reports ICDG faculty member and workshop coordinator Njeri Marekia-Cleaveland. "They were all interested in learning more about the basics of starting and operating a small business in this country and also about the logistics regarding collaborating with communities and entrepreneurs in their home countries," she adds.

As of 2006, Georgia ranked eighth in the nation among states receiving the largest numbers of permanent residents from Africa, with Atlanta hosting more than 200,000 African immigrants.

[More information about ICDG African initiatives]

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