About Activate Oklahoma
Rural Oklahoma is a great place to grow. Generations of rural Oklahomans have built our state through good times and hard times, rising to the occasion solving rural challenges with rural Oklahoma solutions. Oklahomans rise to challenges with grit, determination and resolve, and Oklahoma’s homegrown innovators are meeting challenges – both emergent and existing – with that same pioneer spirit.
The Oklahoma Grassroots Rural & Agriculture Business Accelerators’ Activate Oklahoma rural innovation pipeline connects our state’s modern-day pioneers with Oklahoma’s world-class business-development resources to help bring their ideas to life right here in rural Oklahoma.
Activate Oklahoma connects a cohort of rural entrepreneurs with Oklahoma CareerTech, our state’s Small Business Development Centers, Oklahoma i2E, Oklahoma State University’s Food and Agricultural Products Center and the Noble Research Institute to provide expertise and resources to help these innovators navigate the business landscape to bring their ideas and technologies to market. Activate Oklahoma helps rural entrepreneurs grow in their local communities – keeping innovators close to home as much as possible as they participate in the innovation track.
The core of Activate Oklahoma is a multi-day bootcamp-style workshop with curriculum provided by Oklahoma Small Business Development Centers. Cohort members will be connected with resources and experts that will help them take their ideas to the next level. Curriculum includes access to product mentors and personal mentors for rural entrepreneurs to connect with and learn from.
Programming continues beyond the initial business development workshop to help them continue to build out their ideas and innovations.
Activate Oklahoma connects our rural innovators with Oklahoma’s world-class business development resources to keep rural Oklahoma innovating and creating opportunities for the next generation of Oklahomans right where these innovations began: in rural Oklahoma.
Equity investment opportunities
When innovators complete the Activate Oklahoma pipeline, they qualify for an opportunity to pitch their innovation, technology or venture to a collaborative investment committee representing Oklahoma Farm Bureau and Cortado Ventures for a chance to receive equity investment, resulting in official graduation from the program.
Innovators pitch their market-ready concepts to a committee of investment partners who evaluate the pitches and offer equity investment in ventures that both meet the program’s mission and have marketplace viability.
