Bell Atlantic will host an e-commerce training session for minority and women-owned businesses to teach them to use the Internet to market their products and services and to conduct business-to-business transactions.

The session will be held Thursday (4/27) from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Enterprise Center, a small business incubator, at 4548 Market St. Attendees will learn about Web page development, e-commerce software requirements and marketing and sales over the Internet.

"Minority and women-owned businesses tend to be small companies that often lack the time and resources to keep up with the rapid advances of the Internet and to take advantage of its potential," said Jeannie Diefenderfer, Bell Atlantic vice president of Corporate Sourcing. At the same time, Bell Atlantic and other large corporations are purchasing more and more goods and services electronically by using the Internet.

"This training session will help give minority and women-owned businesses the tools they need to compete for contracts with Bell Atlantic."

The event is co-hosted by the Telecommunications Industry Group of the National Minority Supplier Development Council in partnership with the Minority Business Development Agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Additional training sessions will be held in New York on June 14 and in Boston on July 11.

Businesses interested in registering for any of the three sessions may contact Bell Atlantic at dsr@bellatlantic.com or by visiting the Web site at www.bellatlantic.com/diversity/supplier.

Bell Atlantic is at the forefront of the new communications and information industry. With nearly 44 million telephone access lines and 12 million wireless customers worldwide, Bell Atlantic companies are premier providers of advanced wireline voice and data services, market leaders in wireless services and the world's largest publishers of directory information. Bell Atlantic companies are also among the world's largest investors in high-growth global communications markets, with operations and investments in 23 countries.

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