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New Web Site Opens Technology to Women, Minority-Owned Businesses

Women and minority-owned businesses have a new technical training partner: Biz Tech-Connect.

Women and minority-owned businesses have a new technical training partner: Biz Tech-Connect. Microsoft is part of a consortium of companies that designed the free Web resource to help women and minority entrepreneurs use the Internet and other technology to help grow their businesses.

The Web site, www.biztechconnect.com, offers a number of technical training sections, or "modules," as it calls them, for business owners: marketing and advertising, customer relationship management, financial management, communications and mobility, free online business applications, and tools and services. The site requires registration to use.

The Web site was the outgrowth of a 2004 study by the research organization Urban Institute. The Institute surveyed about 1,100 businesses owned by women and minorities, and found that those that used computers and technology extensively were far more successful than those that didn't. The study estimated that if women and minorities took greater advantage of technology, it could have a boost to the U.S. economy of $200 billion per year.

A press release announcing Biz Tech-Connect quoted business owner Ginger Johnson about how she's using the site to help sell her line of beauty products: "I found the marketing and advertising section on Biz Tech-Connect very appealing. And the rest of the site is a welcome refresher course on Business 101, quick and easy to access, with information that comes from trustworthy sources. I like that. There are a number of nice jewels you can find on the site."

The original sponsors of the effort are Microsoft, Cisco, AT&T and the Women's Business Enterprise National Council.

About the Author

Keith Ward is the editor in chief of Virtualization & Cloud Review. Follow him on Twitter @VirtReviewKeith.

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