Residents of St. Thomas, who still are recovering from the onslaught of Hurricane Marilyn two years ago, received some global marketing advice this summer from Jamila Harris, who heads her own Atlanta-based international marketing and public relations firm, Harris Associates.
Ms. Harris told GlobalFax that because of the wreckage, the island’s tourist industry withered and local business owners have had to adapt to a serious recession.
Some have done so, she added, by adopting a more entrepreneurial attitude and exploring foreign markets on their own instead of just waiting for their customers to come to them.
Ms. Harris, who received the Atlanta Minority Business Advocate of the Year Award from the U.S. Commerce Department last year for a business television show she launched here, was invited this June by Small Businesses on the Move, a St. Thomas business association, to speak at its annual conference.
She said that she encouraged the conference attendees to explore all family and professional relationships to sell their goods in the U.S. and elsewhere.
Ms. Harris is the founding director of the Dow Jones-Spelman College Entrepreneurial Center, and founder/director of the KIDS-N-BUSINESS program, teaching entrepreneurship to children ages 6 to 16. She may be reached at (404) 221-1460, fax, (404) 524-9440. Her web page may be found at http://www.abraxis.com/big-money