By: Yasleen Trinidad

Saint Peter’s University students are helping put local business owners on the map. On Wednesday, March 30th, the Ignite Institute highlighted the importance of growing an online presence.

“With 70% of people finding businesses or service providers online through Google searches and devices, if a business is not online, they will lose revenue and sales. The purpose of the workshop was to inform and help business owners expand,” according to the workshop coordinator and business professor, Mary Kate Naatus.

Also participating in the workshop were financial resource corporations, Rising Tide Capital and the Greater Newark Enterprises Corporation, who according to Reneseha Lee, a Rising Tide Capital representative, they were there to “offer capital funds to entrepreneurs who are starting their own businesses.”

For Adiela Gaviria, a local entrepreneur in the process of opening up her own business, the workshop, “was great because it helped me in perfecting my business plan and showed me how to make my business known.”

The workshop was also a real-world learning experience for the Digital and Social Media Marketing course taught by professor Naatus. The students were trained to teach local entrepreneurs to use Google products and apps in order to grow local businesses.

Karen Castaneda, a student who is currently taking Social Media Marketing said, “We have tables set up ready to register businesses on Google. So far, I’ve been able to register three businesses and it feels good to help out the community.”

Danny Valez, who is also taking the course said, “It not only helped us networking wise, but it has also been a great confidence builder when it comes to helping others.”

From informational seminars, to capital resource booths, to getting register on Google, it was no wonder the bilingual workshop was a hit for small business owners.