Study Reveals Emerging African Immigrant Market Segment

May 7, 2009 (Los Angeles, California) – U.S. African Chamber of Commerce Released First African Consumer Segment Study with 50 Billion Dollar Purchasing Power. African immigrants are a separate and unique group that is growing in number in the U.S. These consumers maintain connections to their friends and family in their native countries as well as maintain ties to native traditions, including food, music, and entertainment. These insights come from an exciting new comprehensive study by Los Angeles-based multicultural research firm New American Dimensions in conjunction with The African Chamber of Commerce, Dr. Bruce Corrie, The Minneapolis Foundation and Aguilar Productions. From multiple focus groups in Los Angeles, New York City and Minneapolis to a four-market quantitative survey of 393 African immigrant adults in California, Minnesota, Washington D.C. and New York, this study captures unique insights into the daily lives and thoughts of this highly educated and successful group. The study is supplemented by a video snapshot of Africans to personify the findings from the research and bring them to life.

Highlights of the study, which are available at www.newamericandimensions.com and www.usafricanchamber.org include:
· The African immigrant consumer market in the U.S. is a unique cultural market segment which is largely untapped. Within this market, there is a unique Islamic market segment which is also untapped. Marketers have an opportunity to deliver culturally appropriate products to this sub-segment such as in the food and beverage category.

· African immigrants prove to be sensible shoppers, shopping around for the right price and the right product. Younger shoppers are more prone to shopping for products recommended by family and friends. Supermarkets lead the list of stores patronized by African immigrants. Discount stores and low-end department stores are the top shopping venues for clothes and accessories.

· Most African immigrants have their own checking and savings accounts and about two-thirds have credit cards. They also tend to have auto and medical insurance and a few have long-term care insurance.

· Email and international calls are heavily used for keeping in touch. Younger Africans are also the heaviest visitors to internet social groups.

· African immigrants spend more hours watching English language media than African language media, most probably due to availability of in-language options. Overall, CNN tops the list of favorite English-language TV channels followed by ABC, Fox and NBC. Yahoo and Facebook top the list of favorite websites.

· Most African immigrants own a personal computer and a DVD player. Younger immigrants are high consumers of English-language movies. Almost all Africans interviewed own cell phones.

· Success is often described in meaningful, far-reaching terms. African respondents emphasized the need to give back to their community. Most send money to relatives back home on a regular basis, but when talking about success, they mean giving on a larger scale, more often in terms of the community-at-large.

“There are over 1.4 million Africans living in the U.S. and these consumers possess very high educational attainment and incomes. Additionally, this is a segment with a powerful sense of identity and pride in being African”, said David Morse, President and CEO of New American Dimensions, a firm which provides customized multicultural consumer research.

“USACC is the leading advocate organization for African businesses and entrepreneurs. This is a growing consumer segment within the multicultural market – one that cannot be overlooked”, said Martin Mohammed, President of the U.S. African Chamber of Commerce.

This study was commissioned by Martin Mohammed of the African Chamber of Commerce and led by David Morse and his team at New American Dimensions of Los Angeles and Dr. Bruce Corrie, Dean of the College of Business and Organizational Leadership at Concordia University, Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Minneapolis Foundation was the major funder of the study. Minneapolis-based Aguilar Productions is the major promoter of the study.

About New American Dimensions
New American Dimensions (NAD) is a multicultural marketing consulting, research, and trends company based in Los Angeles, California. Its aim is to be nothing less than a rich resource of actionable marketing intelligence for its clients–helping them to shape effective strategies leading to greater success by capturing the rapidly expanding markets of U.S. ethnic consumers and emerging youth markets. David Morse, NAD President & CEO, presented highlights of this study on April 28 at Aguilar Productions’ 5th Annual Multicultural Marketing Conference in Minneapolis.

About the U.S. African Chamber of Commerce
The United States African Chamber of Commerce is the leading organization for African Entrepreneurship and exists to promote African Economic Development within the United States and abroad. The organization works toward four primary goals:

* National representation for African immigrants in the U.S.
* Linking the work of African chambers and trade organizations across the United States and creating local access to economic development services for African immigrants
* The development of current and accurate market information on Africans in the United States
* Promoting International Business and Trade with Africa