A Partnership between The Center for Organizational Development, the College of Business and COSE.
NEO Immigrant or Minority Business Development Program


February 22 and February 29, 2008
9 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Course Times and Dates


Current Course - February 22 and February 29, 2008


Third Course - April 4 and April 11, 2008


Purpose


The purpose of this project is provide 75 NE Ohio immigrant and minority business owners the knowledge and skills necessary to better find and keep their best prospects and customers through cutting-edge direct marketing techniques and tools. The anticipated outcomes for the business owner include more strategic application of their marketing dollar; a more focused communication strategy with the firm-s target market; increased long-term revenues; and, for NE Ohio, a more economically diverse and dynamic region.


Building upon the already successful regional partnership between COSE (Council of Smaller Enterprises) and the University of Akron's Taylor Institute for Direct Marketing, this project is positioned to advance the cause of free enterprise and entrepreneurial values across NE Ohio through the empowerment of immigrant and minority owned businesses by providing them accessibility to the most advanced tools and techniques developed to date in the areas of customer attraction and growth.

Background


In July 2006, The Council of Smaller Enterprises (COSE) finalized a development partnership with the Center for Organizational Development (COD) at The University of Akron (UA). The relationship provides COSE members special access to the Taylor Institute for Direct Marketing at UA through a cutting-edge curriculum of courses that empowers businesses to produce strategic plans focused on needs in the areas of sales, integrated direct marketing communications, direct interactive marketing, database analytical marketing, and creative direct marketing.


COSE, the small business arm of the Greater Cleveland Partnership, serves as a one-stop resource for its 16,000 members by providing: group-purchasing programs that reduce the cost of doing business; education and development programs for small and mid-sized businesses; advocacy on legislative and regulatory issues affecting the business community; a wide range of resources focused on helping firms grow; and economic development partners that can address business concerns.


The Taylor Institute for Direct Marketing is an organizational unit of the department of marketing within the College of Business Administration at the University of Akron. The contributions of high-profile direct marketing practitioners, who act as faculty, administrators and advisors, give the Institute a unique advantage. The Institute balances theory with practicum by emphasizing internships and hands-on learning in state-of-the-art labs, including consists six state-of-the-art direct marketing laboratories, a fully functional applied research wing (focus group and e-usability labs), interactive executive classrooms, innovation rooms, and a business incubator.


In addition to the educational component, this collaboration provides a template for an effective regional alliance that leverages the core competencies of two of the region’s most forward-thinking organizations.


The first two courses were successfully launched in January 2007: Business to Business Integrated Direct Marketing Communications and Business to Consumer Integrated Direct Marketing Communications.


The Next Steps: Regional Integration and the Immigrant / Minority Business Community


According to a Plain Dealer report of May 17, 2006, the number of Asian-owned businesses in Northeast Ohio rose 16% from 1997 to 2002. And, sales from those businesses in the eight-county U.S. Census area jumped a whopping 58% in the same four years: a rate of sales growth seven times the national average. It's also the reverse of the national trend, which saw the number of Asian-owned businesses rise 24% but sales grow by just 8%. Together, sales from Asian-owned businesses topped $1.9 billion in Northeast Ohio in 2002, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.


In another Plain Dealer article, dated April 18, 2006, it was revealed the number of black-owned businesses in Northeast Ohio grew to 12,437 by the end of 2002, a 23% jump over five years earlier. With the rise in the number of black-owned businesses came a 10% increase in their sales and a 13% increase in their payroll. These minority-owned firms reported revenue of $1.3 billion by December 2002, the most recent year for which numbers are available. They had an annual payroll of $240 million in the eight-county U.S. Census-defined Northeast Ohio region. The region's growth among black-owned business in these key areas ran about half the national average for the same five years, the U.S. Census Bureau figures showed. But in an area hard-hit by economic losses since 2000, the region's gains were still good news.

Objectives


The objectives of this project include:

• Identification of 75 worthy immigrant / minority-owned businesses to receive scholarships.
• Participation of scholarship recipients in a 12-hour course entitled "Database Creation and Analytics and Integrated Direct Marketing Communications". Six hours of instruction on creating a dynamic, accessible, and usable customer and prospect database will be woven within six hours of hands-on peer review activities using the facilities of The Taylor Institute for Direct Marketing to construct an effective communications plan with those targeted groups.
• Assessment of how the learning tools were implemented through a mentoring program using students from the University of Akron's Fitzgerald Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies.
• More viable and growing immigrant / minority-owned businesses.


Selection of Scholarship Recipients


The groups that would recommended the deserving immigrant and minority business owners in NE Ohio include:


TEAM NEO partners:

• Greater Cleveland Partnership
• Greater Akron Chamber
• Stark Development Board
• Medina County Economic Development Corporation
• Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber
• Lorain County Chamber of Commerce


NE Ohio Incubators (NEOInc.):


• Youngstown Business Incubator
• MAGENET Incubator - Cleveland
• Akron Global Business Accelerator
• GLIDE - Lorain
• Braintree - Mansfield


Other regional organizations:


The criteria for scholarships include: U.S. citizenship; in business for more than 3 years; business physically located in 16 county NEO region; willingness to serve as a mentor; evidence of desire to remain engaged; order of priority: defined minority first, immigrant second; preference for Summit County business owners.