NEW YORK, NY, Fri. Sept. 30, 2022: The National Minority Business Council, (NMBC), an organization dedicated to providing assistance to hundreds of businesses in the US, has partnered with the Caribbean American owned agency, ICN Group, to focus on bridging the digital and capital divide for small and minority-owned companies in the U.S. and across the Caribbean.
John F. Robinson, President & CEO of NMBC, recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Felicia J. Persaud, founder and CEO of ICN Group, which owns the brands, Invest Caribbean, Hard Beat Communications, CaribPR Wire and News Americas, to offer easy digital marketing solutions to its members and to focus on the lack of access to capital for Small and Medium Enterprises, (SMEs), and other major minority-owned companies in the U.S. and the Caribbean.
In commenting on the partnership, Robinson said: “As we celebrate 50 years of support to the small and minority business community, we are proud to collaborate with the ICN Group to offer state of the art digital technology to our members and associates to manage their businesses efficiently and effectively. We are also happy to collaborate with ICN to partner on the creation of an investment platform to facilitate investment in the Caribbean and Latin America. This is the ideal opportunity for NMBC to reinforce its commitment to the growth and development of the SME sector in the region as well as the US.”
Persaud noted that with this partnership, ICN will continue to expand on its main mission – empowerment of Caribbean and minority-owned small and medium enterprises that are struggling to keep up with changes in digital marketing and the inability to access capital to grow their businesses.
“We look forward to being able to help the NMBC offer more value to its members through our award-winning digital, PR and AD agency, Hard Beat Communications ,’ (HBC), platform and subscription services, that with the click of a mouse, gives any organization the digital marketing tools they need to grow their business from one dashboard at a cost-effective price,” said Persaud. “We also look forward to our partnership on solving the issue of lack of access to capital, particularly for minority-owned companies and those in the Caribbean region that have been especially hit hard by de-risking.”
Any NMBC member will be able to get their own dashboard and 8 free digital marketing software tools for one small monthly subscription fee of USD 30. The fee includes an introductory session on customization and use of the dashboard as well as the option to:
- Post on two company branded social media platforms at once;
- Manage client meetings in one place;
- Software to handle reviews from the dashboard;
- The means to oversee digital growth of the brand and ensure the company is listed accurately across search engines;
- And also the option to bring and manage clients on the custom branded dashboard, including invoicing them.
NMBC members will also be able to choose from numerous other digital tools that can be added on to grow their company’s brand. These include:
- Subscribing to the HBC social media pro tool that allows for the management and scheduling of social posts across multiple platforms at once;
- Options to grow their company’s listings organically on hundreds of sites;
- Tools to manage reviews and post five-star reviews on their sites;
- The option to have all team members get their own custom meeting link through the HBC Calendar software tool;
- Business software tools in one place;
- Customer Relationship Management, (CRM), tools including lead capture from websites;
- Done for you SEO (Search Engine Optimization);
- Website creation including landing pages and e-commerce sites as well as, management, imports and hosting;
- Social media page design and creation;
- Content creation, including blogs, website content, social media content and management, press release creation and global press release distribution, plus SEC filings;
- Digital ad buys and digital marketing consultancy;
- SMS marketing tools;
- Digital signage;
- Branded design of flyers, power point presentation, brochures, business cards etc.
- Custom branded office videos;
- Real Estate 3D tools;
- Cybersecurity testing and malware removal and;
- Event planning services.
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ABOUT
ICN Group is an upstart black, immigrant and Caribbean woman-owned US-based company that holds a total of 2 existing start-up subsidiaries with 5 brands covering media, finance and consulting and 2 brands in the making, that covers fintech and real estate.
Our strategy at ICN Group is geared for long-term economic empowerment and inclusion in the global marketplace by dominating traditional sectors with a unique spin.
NMBC was founded in 1972 as a non-profit (501)(c)(3) corporation and is dedicated to providing business assistance, educational opportunities, seminars, purchasing listings and related services to hundreds of businesses throughout the tri-state area and across the nation. The strength of the organization resides in its members of successful entrepreneurs who are committed to their business and to the NMBC’s continuing goal of expanding opportunities available to small, minority and women business owners. For more contact John F. Robinson, President and CEO at info@nmbc.org.
