AT&T Strives to 'Empower Entrepreneurs' at National Small Business Week, Sponsoring Workshop Featuring Original 'The Apprentice' Winner Bill Rancic

WASHINGTON, May 18, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- With a recent study indicating that entrepreneurship is at a 15-year high, the 48th annual National Small Business Week comes at an opportune time. Small business owners, entrepreneurs, policy makers, government officials and business executives are gathering in Washington, D.C., for a variety of activities designed to recognize the special impact made by entrepreneurs and small businesses, including driving innovation, creating jobs and increasing U.S. competitiveness.

As part of this year's annual event, which is themed "Empowering Entrepreneurs," AT&T* is demonstrating its commitment to the more than 25 million U.S. small businesses through its sponsorship of:

• A pre-event workshop this afternoon featuring Bill Rancic, renowned entrepreneur, first winner of "The Apprentice" and star of the Style network hit reality show "Giuliana and Bill"
• The event's opening reception this evening at the Library of Congress, where AT&T Executive Vice President of Small Business Solutions Cathy Martine will deliver remarks
• An upcoming training conference to be hosted by the U.S. Small Business Administration's Office of Women Business Ownership.

More specifically, to kick off National Small Business Week, AT&T has partnered with SCORE, a non-profit association that provides free mentoring and advice to entrepreneurs, to present a pre-event workshop entitled "Growing Your Business While on the Go – A Road Warrior's Perspective." Bill Rancic, author of the best-selling books "Beyond the Lemonade Stand" and "You're Hired," will share personal anecdotes and tips for keeping businesses successful while on the road, followed by a panel discussion where he will be joined by small business experts from AT&T and SCORE.

The workshop is timely for the nation's business startups, with a recent study from the Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity, indicating that the U.S. economy added approximately 565,000 new businesses per month last year, representing the highest level of entrepreneurship over the last 15 years.

"I'm proud to be working with AT&T as a part of this nationally recognized event supporting the millions of entrepreneurs and business owners, who make such a valuable contribution to the American economy," Rancic said. "My goal is to offer useful tips and tools from my personal 'road warrior' experiences that will be insightful for workshop attendees and generate discussions about new ways to be efficient and effective entrepreneurs."

In addition, AT&T's Martine will salute entrepreneurs and new business startups during her remarks this evening at the Library of Congress Opening Reception, which will be attended by award-winning small businesses, U.S. Small Business Administration officials, and other dignitaries.

"With 'empowering entrepreneurs' as the theme of this year's National Small Business Week, I can't think of a more appropriate way to sum up what the U.S. Small Business Administration and AT&T are all about," Martine said. "Our key charge is to give entrepreneurs and small businesses the resources, tools and technologies they need to work smarter, maximize productivity and do an even better job of meeting the needs of their own customers."

As part of its participation in the event, AT&T also announced today its major sponsorship of a training conference to be hosted in September by the SBA's Office of Women's Business Ownership. Representatives from the nationwide network of 110 Women's Business Centers will learn about and discuss topics, such as job creation, broadband access, grant management, green initiatives and exporting, at the training conference. Focused on serving socially and economically disadvantaged women, Women's Business Centers trained and counseled more than 160,000 entrepreneurs last year.

AT&T's sponsorship will support break-out sessions, providing education on communications technology – such as broadband access and cutting-edge wireless technologies and mobile applications – that streamlines business processes, cuts costs, and, ultimately, helps small businesses be more profitable.

"Consistent with President Obama's agenda of increasing broadband access to all business owners and supporting women in small business," said Ana Harvey, Assistant Administrator for SBA's Office of Women's Business Ownership, "we are excited to join with AT&T on our September training conference and to equip attendees with innovative tips and tools to help their businesses evolve with the ever-changing advances in communications technology."

Small businesses looking to find information about other AT&T products and services can visit AT&T Small Business. For free business resources such as webinars, white papers, training, case studies and best practices, they can visit AT&T Small Business InSite.

Additionally, real-time information can be found on the AT&T Small Business Facebook page and Twitter channel.

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.

About AT&T

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) is a premier communications holding company. Its subsidiaries and affiliates – AT&T operating companies – are the providers of AT&T services in the United States and around the world. With a powerful array of network resources that includes the nation's fastest mobile broadband network, AT&T is a leading provider of wireless, Wi-Fi, high speed Internet and voice services. A leader in mobile broadband, AT&T also offers the best wireless coverage worldwide, offering the most wireless phones that work in the most countries.  It also offers advanced TV services under the AT&T U-verse® and AT&T | DIRECTV brands. The company's suite of IP-based business communications services is one of the most advanced in the world. In domestic markets, AT&T Advertising Solutions and AT&T Interactive are known for their leadership in local search and advertising. In 2010, AT&T again ranked among the 50 Most Admired Companies by FORTUNE® magazine.

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