Boosting Local Businesses

Bank of Oak Ridge Recognizes UNCG Entrepreneurs At Awards Dinner

Greensboro, NC (February 2, 2011) – On Thursday evening, January 27, Bank of Oak Ridge held an awards dinner in Greensboro to honor recipients of the UNCG Campus Entrepreneurs Award. Adrian Martinca, Ja’el Mosley, and C. Daniel Taylor were each selected to receive an official campus business license and offered a loan from the Bank of Oak Ridge Micro-Loan Fund for a start-up campus business.

left to right: Award recipients C. Daniel Taylor and Adrian Martinca, UNCG professor Joe Erba, award recipient Ja’el Mosley, and Bank of Oak Ridge Chief Credit Officer Bill Vasaly

The winners were chosen based on business plans they submitted after participating in the Campus Entrepreneurs class at the UNCG Bryan School of Business. A selection committee of UNCG faculty and local business leaders judged the plans.

The event was hosted by Bank of Oak Ridge in Greensboro, and attended by the award recipients, Joe Erba, the instructor of the Campus Entrepreneurs class, and members of the Bank of Oak Ridge management team, including President and CEO Ron Black, Chief Credit Officer Bill Vasaly, and Retail Banking Manager Brady Young. The management team shared their experience of starting a community bank and the challenges of creating a new business venture. They also answered questions from the award recipients, who were eager to get advice.

“It was an honor to recognize these students who are keeping the spirit of entrepreneurship alive and it is a great pleasure to help them grow their businesses,” said Bill Vasaly.

Bank of Oak Ridge contributed $20,000 to start the micro-loan fund in 2008. The fund has since been used to offer business loans, up to $1,000 each, to 10 UNCG student entrepreneurs. As the students repay the loans, the money goes back into the fund to award to future recipients. Loan recipients first complete a Campus Entrepreneurs course at UNCG where they learn how to create a viable new campus business. At the end of the course, students may submit a business plan to a panel of judges comprised of UNCG faculty, administrators and outside executives. The best business plans are awarded a license to conduct business on the UNCG campus and offered a micro-loan.