Kristen Bass
Staff Writer
Anyone in Southwestern Oklahoma who is looking to start a business can come to Cameron University’s Center for Emerging Technology and Entrepreneurial Studies (CETES).
The CETES building acts as a technology incubator, offering entrepreneurs an office space to host their business services and support their success and growth.
Arun Tilak, director of CETES, explains that if people have business ideas, then the staff at CETES will help them start their business plans. The first things a future entrepreneur needs are a furnished office space, computer, telephone, fax machine, scanner and copy machine.
The term incubate comes from the thought of a baby in an incubator, where they develop and wait until they are mature before they become exposed to the world. CETES acts in the same way – ensuring a business gets all it needs before standing on its own.
If people want to open a retail store, Tilak said help is available, but CETES does not offer office space.
Tilak said CETES’s purpose is to “help local business grow.”
The staff of CETES help businesses by introducing them to the technologies of simulations, game design and robotics, connecting them with other entities, providing them conference rooms and walking them through the internship process.
“Businesses should and can use interns,” Tilak said, “and that’s not cheap labor, but it’s affordable. It’s a win-win for both because the student learns to apply what the student has learned in class to the business.”
For more information about CETES and how to start a business, call 580-581-5447, or visit www.cetes.org.