THE BUSINESS OF BEATING POVERTY

TORONTO, CA – October 11, 2007 – Elizabeth Abiebhode is a married mother of four who lives in one of the poorest countries in the world, but it seems as if somebody forgot to tell her that. Elizabeth is a retailer in one of Nigeria’s largest bustling open-air markets. There, she spends her days selling fresh produce trying to earn enough money to support her family.

Elizabeth is one of the continent’s many emerging entrepreneurs that are taking their futures into their own hands in their attempts to break out of poverty. She is also just one of the African entrepreneurs that are receiving support from a new Toronto-based microfinance initiative, SEO for Africa.

Entrepreneurship expert Evan Carmichael felt the need to give back the only way he knows how – by helping small business owners get started. Seeing the potential for mutual benefit, Carmichael decided to launch a series of workshops that are connecting entrepreneurs from halfway around the world in ways they never thought possible.

“The majority of Africans are poor, we all know that,” he says. “But we also know that business is one of the best ways to break out of the cycle of poverty. And while Africa may be short on capital, it’s by no means short on entrepreneurs.”

It was to that end that Carmichael decided to launch SEO for Africa, a series of workshops designed to help Toronto business owners improve their search engine rankings for their own websites. While Toronto entrepreneurs gain valuable SEO training to help their businesses, they will also be directly supporting African entrepreneurs in their own ventures.

“All of the proceeds from our SEO workshops go directly towards supporting the business ventures of African entrepreneurs in the form of microfinance loans,” says Carmichael. “We believe in giving a hand up, not a hand out, and what better way to do that than through a mutually beneficial program like this?”

To date, Carmichael’s SEO for Africa program has helped raise over $2650 for deserving African entrepreneurs, whose business activities range from selling eggs and clothes to interior decorating.

Carmichael’s next workshop is SEO Level 1, “Understanding Google’s Algorithm – 15 Filters Google Uses To Rank Your Website.” Here, he promises that all attendees will leave “with an understanding of how to get their pages positioned highly,” as well as learning what tricks could get you into trouble. Topics to be covered include: Google’s Sandbox, Google’s Trust Rank, domain age, link farming, Google bombing, and the false use of robots.txt.

“Microfinance loans are a proven way to help entrepreneurs improve their standards of living and foster sustainable development,” says Carmichael. “They can also create jobs for others.” Carmichael adds that while these entrepreneurs generally do not qualify for traditional banking credit, the rate of repayment with microfinance loans is upwards of 92%.

Toronto entrepreneurs interested in boosting their Google rankings while helping African entrepreneurs build their businesses can visit http://www.evancarmichael.com/SEO-For-Africa/ for more information. The next workshop, SEO Level 1, is scheduled to take place on Thursday, October 25, 2007 at 7:00pm at BizLaunch (268 Adelaide St. West, Toronto).

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Evan Carmichael is available for an interview. Please contact him at evan@evancarmichael.com.

Evan is an entrepreneur and international speaker. Evan's website, <a href="http://www.evancarmichael.com/">http://www.evancarmichael.com/</a> is the world's #1 website for small business motivation and strategies. With over 160,000 monthly visitors, 1,350 contributing authors, and 25,500 pages of content no website shares more profiles of famous entrepreneurs and inspires more small business owners than EvanCarmichael.com. Evan has been interviewed by newspapers, radio stations, and television stations including The New York Times, The Globe and Mail, Metro, CHUM FM, CityTV, Global TV, OMNI TV, Enterprise, and the Toronto Sun.