Engaged 360 offers online business ownership classes for busy professionals

Through her experience working in finance for small and medium-sized businesses as the founder of Capital Logic, Anisha Bradley realized that many business owners could use help creating plans for business sustainability and growth.That's why she decided to launch Engaged 360, an online company that offers classes in everything from business plan writing to marketing and strategic planning. The company officially went online in November, and Bradley just held an event at the Cincinnati Regional Chamber outlining her services to potential clients.Engaged 360 charges user companies an annual fee based on company size and the level of services they require. Membership is open to students, individuals and any sized company. Services offered include live-web based classes, online member forums, complementary marketing, accounting and legal services (at an extra, but discounted rate) and more.The top membership level features a facilitated in-person networking group the matches members with potential business partners and resources."What I find is a lot of businesses don’t have a solid foundation on which to build their businesses on, whether that's marketing and customer service. So we decided to put this together. It's not just classes that are beneficial but also getting a chance to network with other members," said Bradley, who lives in North Avondale.Engaged 360 has curriculum developed in-house and in conjunction with outside companies, Bradley said. Bradley has a degree in marketing and accounting and worked as a tax consultant for Deloitte and Touche and Ethicon Endo-Surgery. She founded Capital Logic, a financial management company, is 2008.She will operate Engaged 360 solo until she has enough members to bring on additional help, Bradley said. Classes are set to start the third week of January. Though they are online, classes are designed to be hands on."For instance, if they are taking a business plan class, by the end of the class they will have one they can take to the bank," Bradley said.Writer: Feoshia HendersonSource: Anisha Bradley, president Engaged 360You can follow Feoshia on twitter @feoshiawrites

Mashup Cincinnati encourages diverse YP networking to bridge corporate divide

P&G grant helps fund new corporate citizenship and sustainability course at Xavier

A growing number of businesses are figuring out that being a socially responsible corporate citizen can actually be good for the bottom line. A course being developed by a Xavier University professor, funded in part by a Procter & Gamble grant, will help teach university MBA students what being a good corporate citizen is all about.Rebecca Luce, an assistant professor of Management and Entrepreneurship at Xavier, is currently developing an MBA course on Corporate Citizenship and Sustainability. "I think these issues of social responsibility are starting to become senior management topics of discussion at most companies. For example, something that both Procter & Gamble and Walmart are doing is assessing their suppliers for sustainable business practices. They're looking at that as a factor in choosing suppliers. I don't think MBA students should leave without knowing about these issues," Luce said.She decided to apply for a grant from Procter & Gamble Fund's Higher Education Program to design the course, based on concepts that she has lectured on in other classes. Of particular importance to the course will be the use of the "base of the pyramid" market concept, which describes the vast numbers of people living on very low incomes. Students will learn how to balance meeting the market needs of those at the "base" while being sensitive to their particular needs.  The P&G grant will help fund a conference trip, books and video that will help Luce further research and build the course. She plans to teach it late next summer. It will cover examine the role businesses play in their communities, as well as topics on environmental sustainable business practices. The course will also encourage students to develop their own sustainable business models.Luce said the course will be one of just a few currently offered across the country."There are not a lot of them, but they are certainly becoming more popular," she said.Writing: Feoshia HendersonSource: Assistant professor of Management and Entrepreneurship at Xavier Rebecca Luce and Xavier CommunicationsYou can follow Feoshia on twitter @feoshiawrites

Cincinnati Zoo unveils cougar cubs

The Cincinnati Zoo welcomed two new baby cougars to its nursery. Considered the largest of the small cats, the cougars plan to reach a weight of 140 to 200 pounds. They will also join the zoo's Cat Ambassador Program to prepare for a Night Hunters exhibit planned for May. Read the full story here.

Toyota shares assembly line expertise with charity

St. Vincent De Paul teamed up with Toyota's engineers to make their holiday food distribution more efficient. They decided to label food items as well as replacing warn down cardboard boxes with plastic crates. Experts from Toyota's assembly line met with volunteers this year and reduced packing time of individual bags to fifteen seconds. Read the full story here.

Future e-readers could be made of paper

With E-books' popularity over hardcover books increasing this past year, engineers at the University of Cincinnati have revealed that paper could be used as a flexible backing for an electronic display. Using paper is a convenient, renewable, flexible, and cheap material that could be used as a platform for electrowetting. Researchers experimented with all sorts of papers, hoping to develop a future device that rolls and feels like paper yet delivers books, news, and video. Read the full story here.

Playhouse receives $90,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts

Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park received its largest grant - $90,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts. The grant will support the final development and production of Behind the Eye and will fund educational activities. Playhouse in the Park is one of two theaters in the country to receive this award. Read the full story here.

Cincy American Institute of Architects chapter launches leadership dev program

The Cincinnati Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (or AIA) has launched a new program aimed at shaping the next generation of leaders in the profession.AIA's VISION: Architect's Leadership Forum launched in mid-November with its first class of area architects from a variety of backgrounds. The 10-person class includes young professionals from large and small firms, as well as sole practitioners.AIA has spent the last year and half developing program curriculum and raising funds for the program. The inaugural class is a mix of architects identified as potential leaders by their employers and an open call to the region's professionals.The program is designed to teach leadership skills to professionals in their 30s and 40s who soon will be tapped as leaders as current leaders begin to retire. About 40 percent of today's industry professionals are 50 or older, said VISION co-chair Miranda Mote."We recognized there was a gap in support for young architects who will have to move up in firms more quickly as CEO and in firm management than those before them," Mote said.To qualify for the program, architects had to be licensed and able to demonstrate experience in the field.There are only a few programs like this in the country. Some of the most recognized are in Kansas City, Boston and Atlanta, Mote said.The 10-month program includes four keynote lectures by nationally recognized speakers, seminars, workshops, professional networking opportunities, panel discussions and a group service project. Throughout, participants will be asked to consider challenge's that Cincinnati faces including legacy, design, project delivery, politics, management practices, community, education and economics. The class takes place once a month.Keynotes will be publicized and open to the public, Mote said. Each day following the keynote presentation, VISION participants will work one on one with the speaker and offer short presentations on the topic each speaker covers. They will also address these topics in a blog that will be available at aiacincinnativision.com. AIA is working with nationally recognized Architect Magazine to offer blog content to a wider audience of professionals in either an online or print format, Mote said.The presentations are key to building leadership skills, she added."Communication is one of the key skills lacking in the architect community, and this is where the presentation comes in developing those skills," Mote said.Writer: Feoshia HendersonSource: VISION co-chair Miranda MoteYou can follow Feoshia on twitter @feoshiawrites

Fledgling Cincy deal sites combine, form revamped YoDeal

Three Greater Cincinnati websites devoted to partnering with local business to offer group discount deals have merged to form a revamped version of  YoDeal.YoDeal relaunched on Nov. 15 with a coupon for $10 dollars worth of bagels for $5 at Marx Hot Bagels in Blue Ash. The site sold 702 coupons, said YoDeal founder Keith Kollstedt.YoDeal went dark in early August. It was one of several new sites that have popped up in Cincinnati in the last year offering discounts for products and services at local business, generally at 50 percent off or more. The sites all relied on group buying, and the deals were available only after a certain number of people purchased them.The assets of the new site have been purchased by Blue Ash-based Reach USA, a multimedia direct marketing company that produces the Valpack, Reach magazine and other marketing and coupon products. Reach also rolled in the assets of deal site WouldURather, which is no longer online.Reach briefly ran its own group purchasing site, ereach Big Deal of the Day, which has been temporarily suspended, said Kollstred who now works with a 10-person digital sales team in Blue Ash.  This new arrangement makes the locally founded YoDeal more sustainable, Kollstedt said."Reach offers a solid foundation and is a well-known name in the city and the country. This also gives us access to Reach's full media suite," he said.While YoDeal's ownership has changed, so has the site itself.  "We have actually changed the look and feel of this site to make it more crisp. We're trying to define it as a more premium site, and our deals (will reflect that). We'll be offering deals for the area's premium spas, restaurants and activities," Kollstedt said.The site has kept its commitment to nonprofits as well. Up to 10 percent of purchases each week goes to a local nonprofit organization."I think we are in the position where we need to be. We're with a well-established company and we are a little different from sites like Groupon and Living Social because of our relationship with charities. That opens up a lot of different avenues for us as far as the businesses we work with and the individuals who buy from us," Kollstedt said.Writer: Feoshia HendersonSource: YoDeal founder Keith KollstedtYou can follow Feoshia on twitter @feoshiawrites