Google launches Accelerate program in Louisiana

15th April 2011 · 0 Comments

By Jules Goins

Contributing Writer

Announced during New Orleans Entrepreneur Week, Google has launched the Louisiana branch of Accelerate with Google which according to Google empowers, enriches and enables minority owned businesses to grow their businesses and connect with customers in new ways through digital marketing.

The Louisiana Minority Supplier Development Council (LA MSDC) will be working with Google on Accelerate with Google. Google will grant LA MSDC $100,00 to help educate businesses on Google software and strategies. LA MSDC will also help Google find potential Google certified professionals, who are trained by Google to train others to use Google software and strategies.

Google has been working on rebuilding projects in the New Orleans area since Katrina, from donating grants to local organizations, to deploying Red Cross Disaster Action Team trained employees to the Gulf Coast, to sponsored home rebuild trips.

Recently, Google has partnered with Idea Village as a corporate partner, lending their expertise to the MBA student teams partnered with select entrepreneurs.

During New Orleans Entrepreneur Week this year, Google sent 28 employees to New Orleans to actively engage with a small group of high growth-potential entrepreneurs, dedicated and enthusiastic MBA students and local business owners.

In 2011, Google is partnering with The Idea Village and other organizations (charter and public schools, non-profits and city government) on city redevelopment efforts, small business development and education reform.

“Things here are less about the devastation of the hurricane and more about moving forward: Entrepreneurship, education reform…we have kind of turned our goals here to align with NOLA goals,” said Maren Bean, Global Communications and Public Affairs for Google.

According to Google’s economic impact report for 2009, Google has generated $81 million of economic activity for Louisiana businesses, website publishers and nonprofits.

“We want all minority owned businesses to be part of that,” said Chris Genteel, Business Development Manager at Google. “We’ve been doing a lot here so this is a natural place for us to extend Accelerate.”

“We just really want to empower all businesses in the New Orleans area, in Louisiana to have the tools they need to bring their business online and be able to access customers all over the world, or all over the state or all over the nation, wherever those people are that are looking for their products and services,” said Bean.

According to Phala Kimbrough Mire, President of LA MSDC, “what distinguishes (Google) from the other corporations that we generally work with is that Google is actually here focusing on Minority Business Enterprises (MBE) development, purely looking at their growth development through online sales and uses of technology. And so that is very different, in that it kind of breaks the model of what corporate/minority business relationship has been at this point.”

Accelerate with Google started in Detroit last year, partnering with Michigan Minority Supplier Development Council (MMSDC).

According to Louis Green, President and CEO of MMSDC, Detroit premiered the program due to proximity to Google’s Ad Words office in Ann Arbor, MI and Detroit having the largest minority supplier council, allowing for a greater sample size of businesses to work with.

Louisiana, on the other hand, has one of the smallest councils. So why was it picked as the second city for this program?

“Even though they are one of the largest councils, the economies are somewhat similar,” said Mire. “We have the economy of Detroit, the economy of NOLA post- Katrina, we are in a recovery phase and so MBEs, even though geographically we are far apart, are in the same position to have to rebuild, reinvent themselves, diversify new markets.”

“Louisiana is really a second city for us to focus on because it is a really perfect place for this initiative: A lot of minority owned businesses, many of whom may not be taking advantage of the digital revolution,” said Genteel. “This city as a kind of base for entrepreneurship is really a perfect place for us to continue growing this project.”

It’s not really there is a New Orleans strategy and Detroit strategy,” said Green, “there is a national strategy and these are just two outposts in that national strategy.”

“Everybody has things in their business that are amazing opportunities,” said Green, “and I think that when you look at the digital world, something that might have been a niche product, kind of a long tail business has tremendous opportunity…so many minority businesses have that, and they don’t realize…they don’t monetize the value of the niche product or something they do well in the industry.”

“So this is like steroids for their business; all of the sudden there is just this phenomenal growth and opportunity that has been there.”

This is a great platform to give access to markets that you never even thought about that you had, both in NOLA and Detroit,” said Green. “As far apart, geographically, and maybe some cultural, all kinds of differences…there is such a similarity on this opportunity for recovery, and we both happen to share in the good fortune that Google has commitment and resources to make that happen, to change the lives in those communities.

“One of the reasons that we have been particularly glad that there has been this focus on minority businesses, because minority businesses disproportionally hire people from minority communities and that’s been the key to the growth and redevelopment of cities like Detroit, like New Orleans,” said Green.

“It’s great because we are doing good and doing well at the same time, we are getting that combination, which is rare.”