by Phiven Seifu, The Immigrant Magazine (Feb-Mar 2006)

The "American Dream" is still a dream desired by many people who come to the United States from around the world. America has become more aware of the significance of Immigrants from all parts of the globe and their impact on every aspect of mainstream society. From radio to television, sports to fashion, academia to the corporate world, immigrants have visibly influenced the American mainstream market. It is safe to say that immigrants and the businesses many have started make a tremendous contribution to the United States economy. Immigrants creating a variety of businesses around the U.S are on the rise and prevalent throughout the World Wide Web as well. Established in 2001, Africanmarket.com is one example of the inception of entrepreneurial immigrants in America entering the cyber world.

Africanmarket.com is an e-commerce portal established with the primary objective of providing a direct outlet for African products, aspiring to eventually replace the likes of Amazon.com. food and beverage, complemented with gift delivery, travel and long distance telephone services.

AGM Enterprise, Inc. executives: Ermias Berhanu, Elias Wondimu, Samuel Legesse, Cesar Suarez and Benyam Telahun. (From left to right )

While low cost and quality is the primary driver of AfricanMarket.com's business objectives, convenience plays a major role for the busy metropolitan resident as well as remote residents interested in purchasing low cost communication products. Customers of AfricanMarket.com enjoy a unique experience of instant phone card pin code delivery along with non-electronic products all in one step, 24 hours a day.The senior management team behind Africanmarket.com consists of four individuals who came to the United States pursing the "American Dream”.

Africanmarket.com was the synthesis of dreams aiming to pursue promotion of the importance of creating and owning businesses in the United States. Originally from Ethiopia, AfricanMarket.com was founded in 2001 by President, Samuel Legesse and Vice Presidents, Ben Telahun, Elias Wondimu, and Ermias Berhanu. Their vision was motivated by the desire to highlight the benefits of African created business ownership and entrepreneurship around the globe and more specifically immigrant owned and run businesses here in America.

Africanmarket.com serves as an online market with a wide variety of products and services representing the entire African diaspora to buyers from around the world. In the new millennium of computers and technology, Africanmarket.com is taking advantage of the new growth potential of the Internet. Recently, the parent company, AGM Enterprise, launched a comprehensive Trade platform, AfricanTrade.com, and expanded its business offerings to the Latin market through its portals LatinStop.com and LatinFreeTrade.com. Its long time associate Cesar Suarez will be serving as its Vice President of the Latin venture. The AGM Enterprise corporation describes itself as a global "consulting, software, internet services, and e-commerce platform provider focusing on small to medium organizations."

Phiven Seifu, a graduate of Broadcast Journalism from California State University, Northridge, is a resident of Los Angeles.