Five rural Oklahoma innovators presented their inventions and ideas to a gathering of investment partners and Farm Bureau guests at Oklahoma Farm Bureau’s Oklahoma Grassroots Rural and Ag Business Accelerators Demo Day Wednesday, Feb. 5, in Oklahoma City.
Demo Day was the culmination of the accelerator program’s Activate Oklahoma rural innovation pipeline for the Fall 2024 program cohort, which featured rural Oklahoma businesses located in Minco, Fairview, Wagoner and other local communities.
Activate Oklahoma participants had five minutes to present their innovative ideas to attendees during the program. The innovators each hosted a booth where they showcased their ideas and visited one-on-one with potential investors, Farm Bureau members and members of the news media.
“I am thrilled that I decided to jump into Activate Oklahoma,” said entrepreneur and cattle producer Rachael Cooper with Well Fed, who presented during Demo Day. “I now feel like I really have the tools necessary to take the next step.”
Cooper presented her innovative cattle feed calculator, which she said can save cattle producers money on feed, during demo day.
Also presenting innovations at Demo Day were A2Ag of Fairview, which integrates drone technology with targeted herbicide application to eradicate invasive eastern red cedar trees; Blackjack Legacy of Minco, which connects Oklahoma cattle producers with consumers through a school-based fundraising program; CASSIE, which has developed a cutting-edge air filtration system; and Invision Smart Window, which has created a unique color-changing window technology that helps protect users from UV radiation.
The five businesses will now be considered for possible capital investment by investment partners who attended Demo Day.
“While we recognize that Activate Oklahoma can’t solve all the rural development issues in rural Oklahoma, the program is an excellent opportunity to help make a dent,” said OKFB President Rodd Mosel. “It sets an example and encourages more people to realize they can dream up businesses in rural Oklahoma.”
A graduation ceremony was held for the five businesses at the conclusion of Demo Day, marking their completion of the Activate Oklahoma program’s comprehensive, hands-on business curriculum.
“I think that there are other people out there who have ideas and just don’t know where to start,” Cooper said. “Activate Oklahoma really does give people the opportunity to take a step forward into a world that they’ve never been part of.”
The Oklahoma Grassroots Rural and Ag Business Accelerators program is a rural development initiative from OKFB and program partners that provides a comprehensive idea and business curriculum to rural Oklahoma innovators based in communities with a population of 50,000 or less. The program provides two pipelines for rural innovators: Activate Oklahoma for business with innovations encompassing a wide array of industries and AgCelerate Oklahoma for innovators with an agriculture-specific idea or product.
