By Cancy Francois and Charmaine RaymondSpecial to CSMS MagazineNot knowing the thirst of the Haitian–American audience, which is wanting to be entertained by music from their culture at their home away from home, many black-owned businesses ignore the market because of the unawareness of such cries. However, results from exploratory surveys have many times proven that there is a niche out there in this particular venture. As young educated Haitian-Americans, we realized that the urban market and, especially, the Haitian-American market have great growth potential and ample opportunities for a business like ours, providing the right marketing strategies, which we believe can only be beneficial to anyone using our product. Did you know that Florida has the highest number of Haitians living in the USA? In 2002, there were 182,224 Haitians in Florida representing 6.8 percent of Florida’s total foreign-born population of 2.7 million. Recognizing these statistics and needs, we started focusing on these two communities, keeping pace with the trends they set, and formulating a message that speaks directly to them. After constant planning and research telling us that we can successfully provide excellent quality of product to this audience, we have decided to go public with the company. With this in mind, we have inaugurated what we refer to as “Shakaitutu,” an African term that means “free spirited.” Our main focus for this company is to get into the entertainment business during our first 3 years, then we will breach out to supplying other services. We will specialize in booking artists for events and concerts, promoting artists, live bands, promoting parties and events, planning and executing events, producing culture related movies, advertising and marketing. After accomplishing this successfully, we plan to expand into many other business sectors. Here at Shakaitutu, what we do is what we are—young Haitian-Americans who want to provide quality services and to be entertained by their culture. With this in mind, what we did to bring this company into existence was contacting and booking artists for local organizations. Having been doing so in college campuses for some time, we have come to acknowledge that people were pleased and wanted more of our service. Then we began to engage in strategic planning and market research, which helped us to create Shakaitutu. As young educated Haitian-Americans, we want to be role models for the young generation of Haitian-Americans and also to be a bridge for the older generation, in terms of providing excellent service. We want to bridge the generation gap. Our mission statement is “to stand by is to meaningfully contribute to entertaining the communities in which we will work by adopting a code of conduct that ensures care, honesty, fairness and respect. We are destined to succeed because of our uniqueness. We will avoid at all cost all head-on competition. Shakaitutu takes pride in satisfying customers by doing events that go beyond expectations at an affordable price. Our members are committed to continuously improving the processes by which we provide services; therefore, our events always meet the highest standards. We are committed to exceeding our customers’ expectations for quality, responsiveness, and professional excellence. For all your event planning please call us at 561-210-5429. Your business is greatly appreciated!Note: Cancy Francois and Charmaine Raymond are energetic students from FAU who truly want to make a difference within the Haitian community. Anyone who wishes to let us know about his or her new venture can send an article to publisher@csmsmagazine.org Please, read the submission guideline before submitting.
Shakaitutu, LLC: A Haitian-American company that is making its way into the mainstream
