Maryland Business Opportunity Center

Arthur Toole III, MBA

Program Director

Arthur Toole III, MBA, is a U.S. Army veteran, business strategist, and the Director of the Maryland Business Opportunity Center (MBOC). He leads an exceptional multidisciplinary team committed to helping small businesses grow in a way that lasts— so their success fuels wealth and opportunity for themselves, their families, and their communities.

A former Infantry and Military Intelligence officer, Arthur brings over 20 years of experience spanning military leadership, banking, higher education, and entrepreneurship. He previously held finance and marketing roles at Citigroup and USAA, and later served as Director of Military and Veteran Services at Prince George’s Community College, where he expanded services for more than 1,400 military-connected students each year and led award-winning initiatives to improve educational access and entrepreneurship.

Arthur is also the co-founder of MegRelief, a plant-based pain relief company launched with his wife, Danette, and the founder of the DMV Veteran Shark Tank, an annual pitch competition that awards over $30,000 each year to military-connected entrepreneurs.

When working with business owners, Arthur often reminds them:

“In both success and failure, you gain wisdom—and with any luck, more understanding.”

Niani McDonald

Intake Coordinator

Niani McDonald is a two-time graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park, holding degrees in Marketing and Business Analytics. As the Intake Coordinator at the Maryland Business Opportunity Center (MBOC), she leads efforts to support small businesses in accessing professional services and tailored technical assistance through the SSBCI program. Niani specializes in conducting needs assessments to understand the specific challenges faced by new clients, guiding them toward appropriate resources, and connecting them with Business Development Specialists for personalized support.

With a strong foundation in data analysis and a results-driven approach, Niani tracks demographic trends, industry sectors, regional impact, and the reach of MBOC’s technical assistance program. She uses these insights to evaluate marketing strategies and reports findings to federal partners to gauge Maryland’s impact on small businesses.

Her passion for entrepreneurship and community development drives her to create meaningful connections between small business owners and funding opportunities, fostering success stories within the community. Dedicated to making a tangible impact, Niani collaborates with partners and colleagues to empower entrepreneurs, helping them overcome barriers to growth and achieve their business goals.

Jada Riley

Program Coordinator

Jada Riley is a proud graduate of Towson University, where she earned her Bachelor of Science in business administration with a concentration in entrepreneurship. As the Program Coordinator for the MBOC, Jada plays a vital role in assessing the needs of first-time clients and referrals and connecting them with the center’s Business Development Specialists to receive tailored support and guidance.

Prior to her role at MBOC, Jada gained valuable experience as an intern for the Baltimore Region SBDC, where she helped develop training, webinars, and workshops to provide current and prospective small business owners with information and assistance to start, grow, and sustain their ventures. Jada is driven by her passion for entrepreneurship and is eager to assist Marylanders in pursuing their entrepreneurial aspirations. With the help of her colleagues, Jada hopes to spur new business starts, drive capital infusion, and generate success stories for underserved members of the business landscape.

Jasmine Simms

Business Development Specialist

Jasmine Simms is an energetic, confident, and personable entrepreneur and small business consultant;  the type of person on whom your faculty, mentor networks, and serviced market will come to rely. She has a wide breadth of experience as an entrepreneur, instructor, program & curriculum developer, and business  advisor to entrepreneurs  across many industries. 

Simms is particularly skilled at assessing business functions from ideation, application, operations evaluations, and performance monitoring and reporting. As a strategic and dynamic thinker, she effectively guides teams to progress by tackling key barriers to business growth and ambiguous problems by providing education in creating frameworks that lead to effective solutions as shown by increases in revenue, profitability, job creation, and sustainable business models.

As a raised Baltimorean, she co-founded National Association of Mom Entrepreneurs (NAME formerly Moms As Entrepreneurs ) a non-profit challenging the inequities placed upon minority mom entrepreneurs through education and access to funding. Through her work with NAME, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan State University, many began as aspiring entrepreneurs or sole proprietors and have been able to scale, create jobs, increase revenue and leave their full-time careers to support their livelihoods through full-time entrepreneurship. 

After Simms’ first year in business, she has been awarded the title of Best Nail Salon and Best Nail Care for 7 consecutive years by the Best of Baltimore by Baltimore Magazine, Best Manicure by CBS Baltimore, Best Nail Salon by The Baltimore Sun. For her successes and expertise she has been featured in Black Enterprise, AfroTech, NPR, Style Magazine, Morning Joe on MSNBC, HuffPost, WBAL Radio, Baltimore Magazine, The Baltimore Sun, The b Daily Paper, my24 Bmore Lifestyle, Technically, the Baltimore Times, and Fox News Baltimore and is a writer for NailPro Magazine.