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mmmmm mmm http://www.thecharlottepost.com 7C Cliarlotte THURSDAY, MARCH 9. 2006 BUSINESS Polished image makes small enterprise sizzle By Aisha Lidc VIE CHARIDTTE POST In the business world, image is everything. Successful enti'epreneurs use it to market their business to potential customers or expand ing to new clientele. “Most black entrepreneurs don't put a real graphic design and marketing budget at the top of their company “to-do” Ust, if at aU It’s way down towards the bottom and by the time they think about it, they’re aheady close to going out of business.” said Sonya A. Loweiy an image consultant and author of “The Secret Language of Business Cards (And what your brochure is saying behind your back).” A piofessional logo, business card, and website should be at the top of the list when planning a business, says Lowery This is what gets people to notice your company and lemeanber it. Addie’s Jamaican Cuisine has been open for one year, and has been successful. The restaurant is constantly filled with people from diverse ailtui'es and ethnic ities. “We have great food, people always come back,” says ownei- Addie Roman. Atti'acting customers and good employees can be difficult in See IMAGE/8C Who ’ll replace payday lefjders in N. Carolina? By Gary D. Robertson THE ASSOCIATED PRESS RALEIGH • Attorney General Roy Cooper and consvuner advocates declared the state’s 81/2-year-old experiment with payday lending over when three compa nies decided to stop offering the short term, low-doUar loans in North Carolina. “Payday lenders are surrendering, and North Carolina consumers are the win ners,” Cooper said. "Payday lenders tried to find a way around the law, but we showed them the way out of North Carolina instead.” But the companies’ withdrawal, along with a finding in December that industry leader Advance Arnica was violating state bankir^ rules, may sting consumers who need an influx of cash before their next paycheck arrives. And the tradition al lenders who might otherwise want to offer other kinds of low-doUar installment loans are skeptical lawmakers will soon make changes they say are necessary to make the business profitable. ‘"We have come to the table,” said Charlie Walters, chairman of South Carolina-based World Acceptance Corp, but “there’s only so far you can go to make loans.” In a payday loan, a borrower writes the lender a dieck - usually no more than $500 - postdated for the arrival date of their next paycheck. The borrower receives the check amount in cash, minus the fee. The effective annual percentage rate on these loans are often 400 or 500 percent. “There’s nothing wrong with borrowing a little money until payday but 521 per- See WHO’LL/7C Meharry president to lead Morehouse medical school AP mPE SERVICE ATLANTA — The Mordiouse School of Medicine has announced it has hired a new president - Dr. John Maupin Jr, who is currently the preside! of Nashville’s Meharry Medical College. Maupin, a 60-year-old dentist, will begin July 1 at the historically black Atlanta medical school. Morehouse officials did not release his salary Since 1994, Maupin has been president and chief executive at Meharry, a histori cally black medical school with an enroll ment of about 720. Before that, he was executive vice president at Morehouse. Morehouse has about 270 students. Dr. David Satdier has served as the medical school’s interim president since December 2004. AT&T PHOTO An AT&T employee holds the company’s new logo at the company’s San Antonio, Texas headquarters. AT&T is buying Atlanta-based BellSouth Corp. for S67 million. BellSouth, created with the 1984 breakup of AT&T, is the dominant telephone carrier in North Carolina. Raising Ma Bell’s ghost AT&T acquisition of BellSouth brings hack monopoly memories By Peter Svensson VIEASSOCIAIED PRESS NEW YORK - Call it a weU- funded family reunion: if AT&T Inc.’s $67 billion bid for its BellSouth Corp. is approved, it will go a long way toward reversing the breakup of the old Ma Bell monopoly 22 years ago. The new AT&T will be the local phone company in a 22- state territory, and will be a behemoth in wireless, long- haul voice and Internet traffic, and phone directories. All those services will oper ate under the AT&T brand, which SBC took over with its acquisition of AT&T Corp. in November. The company hopes to save billions in advertising costs simply by consolidating AT&T, BellSouth and Cingular marketing under one brand. But the choice of AT&T as the common name reminder that many Americans look back affection ately on the days of the Ma Bell monopoly, and the new company will have the scale to make that association more than just a marketing ploy. With roots stretching to See AT&rS/8C ‘Madea’ leads movie box office for second week SHOP CIAA By Alica Chang THE.ASSOCIATED PRESS LOS ANGELES — Perry’s Madea’s Family Reunion,” a comic drama fix>m the creator of "Diary of a Mad Black Woman,” held off a rush of new releases to maintain the top spot at the weekend box ^ce. Lionsgate Films’ movie raked in $13 mil lion in its second weekend, bringing its gross to $48 million, according to studio estimates Sunday It edged out the cop thriller “16 Blocks,” which debuted at No. 2 with $11.7 million The Warner Bros, film stars Bruce Willis as an NYPD detective trying to shuffle a star witness firnn a precinct lockup to a grand jury session 16 blocks away Overall, it was a lackluster weekend per formance frr Hcdlywood, where attention was focused on Academy Awards on Sunday The top 12 movies took in $83.8 million, down 23 percent fixan the same weekend last year. “Not every weekend can be a blockbuster. This weekend definitely was not,” said Paul Deigarabedian, president of box-office track er Ebdiibitor Relations. Oscar weekend {Hobably contributed to the box office slide because scane moviegoers were glued to their television watching pre show gossip instead of sitting in the theaters, Dergarabedian said A flurry of new releases failed to create enou^ buzz to captivate audiences, he added Other new wide releases this weekend had mediocre showings. Screen Gems’ sci-fi flick "Ultraviolet,” starring Milla Jovovich 2is Molet who exacts revenge on the govern ment after being infected with a Ucxxl dis ease, debuted at No. 4 with $9 million. PHCJTOCURTe WILSON Mercedes Burt of Sun City, S.C., Michele Jennings of Richmond and Doris Otoo-Grose of Charlotte check out ver>dors at last week’s CIAA basketball tournament at Bobcats Arena. More than 120,000 people visited Charlotte during tournament week. o#o ii
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March 9, 2006, edition 1
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