NC State, Lenovo partnership helps HBCU students with new data visualization tools for marketing

A special group of college students learned how help small minority owned businesses grow.

It involves an North Carolina State University partnership with tech giant Lenovo to train students who are pursuing marketing business careers.

On Friday, students visited the Lenovo campus in the RTP to learn how to help local minority business owners better monitor marketing trends and increase their profits.

Jana Lindsay, a marketing major at Bennett College was part of the training opportunity.

"I’m a business owner myself, so I know how important marketing your business is," she said.

Lindsay owns Black Belt Soap Company, which sells fragrances and is a Black-owned company."

She and others at the session learned about special software developed and designed at NC State to help businesses know what customers want, and when they want it.

Delisa Matthews with NC State University’s Wilson College of Textiles taught the group about special software developed at the university.

"Our data science program gives them access to free software where they’ll be to take all that data they have and help them make better decisions," Matthews said.

Lenovo provides technology and mentorships for students to help them get the most out of the data visualization tools.

"They’re inundated with different data points, right? So they’re looking at information from ‘social’ from their website – from foot traffic in their store," said Gerald Youngblood, Lenovo’s North America Chief Marketing Officer.

That STEM-based knowledge can help people like Lindsay make better decisions in the business world.

"Learn the trends and the data and how important it is and how it can really make your business go well by following the data," Lindsay said.

It’s the second year for the Lenovo and NC State University "Data Trade Gateway Program" limited to Historically Black Colleges and Universities.