Oona Temple and her company, Cosine Technical Group (CTG), became the first occupant of the Minority Business Incubator that opened at UT recently.

UT President Dr. Lloyd Jacobs welcomed Temple and her business at the grand opening of the new minority incubator Sept. 30 at the Campus of Energy and Innovation in the Center for Innovation and Minority Business Enterprise.

“We believe that diversity is a source of strength for the community and university,” Jacobs said. “We carry out the diversity commitment with actions, such as the opening of this minority incubator for emerging businesses.”

From left, Lawrence Burns, Oona Temple and Lloyd Jacobs.

The incubator will provide office space and furniture, data package with Internet service, parking, security and utilities within the ETC building for its tenants. Businesses will have access to financing, management and technical assistance, a mentoring program and seminars.

“It’s a great challenge, but it’s fun reaching my goal of operating my own business,” said Temple, a Certified Personnel Consultant, who began her firm in March 2007.

Temple started the business and operated it from her home until agreeing to occupy offices in the UT incubator. CTG is a certified Minority Business Enterprise and has nine employees, she said.

CTG provides engineering, technical and administrative staffing for clients in the energy business, placing auditors and engineers at a local refinery site. Temple said she is looking to expand those services into the aerospace field.

Temple decided to start the business after undergoing a year of treatment for breast cancer diagnosed in 2004.

“After overcoming that hurdle, I came to the mindset that this was a goal to run my own business and took advantage of an opportunity that presented itself,” said Temple, a former Junior Achievement student.

A native of Toledo, Temple graduated from St. Ursula Academy and earned a bachelor’s degree in telecommunications from Kent State University. Temple worked for executive search firms in Atlanta and Washington, D.C. She said she returned to Toledo 19 years ago to raise her two children here.

During that period, Temple worked for several executive search firms before starting her own business.

The Minority Business Incubator has space to accommodate six businesses at a time. It will serve additional minority enterprises as a resource for information, networking and providing answers to specific business needs, according to Lawrence Burns, vice president for external affairs and interim vice president for equity and diversity at UT.

“The mission of the incubator is to foster an environment that offers assistance to minority businesses,” said Burns, who chaired the Minority Business Enterprise and Edge subcommittee of the President’s Council on Diversity at UT.

The committee developed plans for the minority incubator working with several community partners, such as the African American Bureau of Commerce, Northwest Ohio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce.

“UT is the future of Toledo and is seen as the center of economic development for the community, as well as education,” said Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner. “We need to empower women, minorities and the university with our public and private strength.”

The incubator also supports UT’s education mission by offering student internships that will provide real world experience and potential academic credit in accounting, finance and marketing fields, according to Rosemary Haggett, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at UT.

“Incubators are win-win for the university and community with the interaction that occurs between business and students,” Haggett said.

“Diversity is not something you can teach. You have to catch it and the university has caught it in a big way,” said George Robinson, II, director of the Minority Contractors Business Assistance Program at the Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 1st, 2009 at 4:42 pm and is filed under Education, Toledo Business Link.
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