On Thursday, October 29, 2009, Dr. Kimball P. Marshall, professor of Marketing, MBA Program, will hold a national Webinar sponsored by the Southern Rural Development Center (SRDC) of Mississippi State.
The webinar is the culmination of the grant provided to Dr. Marshall and Alcorn State U. in 2007 for the purpose of designing a curriculum and program for
encouraging people in rural areas with limited resources to become involved in Internet-based E-Commerce.
An initial presentation was made to extension workers in summer 2008 and the national meeting in Nebraska. With guidance from that audience, the final program was developed and submitted to SRDC. SRDC then enhanced the materials provided and developed the interactive materials
to be presented and explained at the webinar scheduled for October 29.
Alcorn State University is a Land Grant university with a strong commitment to both economic development and to serving rural populations in Mississippi, it is important to support efforts that encourage e-commerce among rural populations. The rural people of Mississippi have many cultural treasures and important rural life and crafts skills and talents that can be profitably shared with others outside of our region.
Basic e-commerce, whether in the form of personal web pages or participation in on-line selling sites such as E-Bay and Yahoo stores, offers opportunities for rural people, even those with limited resources, to offer their products on the national and international stage. “The more people become aware of their valuable skills and ways to profit from them, the more rural economic development is encouraged through individual entrepreneurship.
The talents and skills of our people are exciting, and the ideas that have come from this project can provide an opportunity to showcase them,” explains Dr. Marshall.
The webinar scheduled by SRDC for October 29 will be the first “roll out” of a whole series of educational programs developed by Alcorn State and
other SRDC grantees to help extension workers bring rural populations into ecommerce.
Future topics in the series that are scheduled for November and December include “Web Site Basics”, and “Marketing Specialty Food Products
Online.” More information on the webinar series can be found at http://srdc.msstate.edu/ecommerce/webinar.html.