Ernst & Young Carolinas 1999 Entrepreneur of the Year
6/25/99
Triangle Business Journal, (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, NC)

Carolinas 1999 Entrepreneur of the Year
Ernst & Young LLP

Sheila Hale Ogle
President
MRPP Inc.

After a 20-year career with Howard Merrell Advertising, Sheila Hale Ogle started Media Research Planning and Placement Inc. to assist companies in media planning and placement.

Ogle started in a one-room home office in 1987 and within a year moved into office space. Today she owns MRPP's headquarters and employs 18.

MRPP specializes in providing media market research, media planning and media buying for advertising agencies and creative firms, as well as national, regional and local businesses that do not need a full-service advertising agency.

Each of Ogle's employees is concentrated in a particular field of expertise. The company recently added a new employee to focus on international business, bringing European contacts and foreign language skills. MRPP plans to tap into the international companies interested in the United States' market that need assistance with media buying and placement.

Ogle offers her employees flexible hours, including one Friday off every three weeks. Employees with one year under their belt participate in profit sharing and some employees receive commission bonuses.

This year MRPP donated $30,000 worth of staff time and landed $1.5 million in free media to promote the Special Olympics World Games 1999.

Ogle started her career in media buying at WRAL-TV in Raleigh. She was inducted into the University of North Carolina Advertising Hall of Fame in 1994 and was elected one of 26 delegates representing North Carolina at the White House Conference on Small Businesses in 1995.

Last year the Small Business Administration named her North Carolina Small Business Person of the Year.

Looking forward, Ogle hopes to bring on a person to recruit new business and promote company growth so she can focus more time on company management.