The African American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey hosted its Successful Entrepreneurs Series on August 6, 2013 at The Big Easy restaurant in Trenton. Chamber President John Harmon organized a panel discussion comprised of three accomplished African American entrepreneurs with businesses in different industries. The panel’s theme was sharing best practices and keys for success’.
Moderator Nicole Davis of DeSane & Associates, LLC, a marketing and event planning company, led the panel through a range of topics addressing areas of common concern to the small businesses in attendance. Following each panelist’s description of their company’s success, moderator Davis explored with each a current challenge that they are facing.
Joe Avila, founder of DsPoz-IT, an electronics reclamation company, shared that he must “stay engaged with his customers—be in front of my customers every day”. Joe noted the many distractions that can occur while running a business that takes away from the unrelenting focus he feels he needs to place on his customers and new business development. His company is based in Jersey City and serves both large corporations and small businesses.
Selena Cuffe, President of Heritage Link Brand LLC, a South African wine importer and distributor, shared that her current challenge is “working on brand awareness”: “As an importer of South African wines, we are aware of the extra effort needed to reverse the adverse impact that years of sanctions has had on South African industries and exports. While these sanctions were instrumental in changing the global perspective of South Africa, we have not yet established a reputation as a producer of wines”. In addition, Selena described a very competitive marketplace, for wine importers and distributors, which is comprised of large, well established corporations. She explained the best to compete with these competitors is to offer many opportunities for wine tastings at the point of sale, to potential customers.
Tammeisha Smith, Vice President and Partner in Alamo Insurance Group Inc., expressed “one of her company’s challenges is to overcome the notion that Alamo may not be able to do as good a job, as some of the more well-know insurance Groups. Therefore, we must present Alamo in a way, that illustrates that we are fully qualified to handle your insurance needs. We make a concerted effort to identify everything that is required to ensure that our firm is poised to compete as primary vendors on contracts, i.e. securing Alamo’s certified minority owned business status”.
Photo by: Jaime Escarpeta, Escarpeta PhotoGraphics www.escarpeta.photoreflect.com
