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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 3, 2017
Governor Mary Fallin Announces GrowOK Venture Assessment Program
Oklahoma
Nonprofit, State Partners to Target Rural, Native American Entrepreneurs to
Help Small Businesses Expand Market, Capture
New Revenues
OKLAHOMA
CITY – Governor Mary Fallin today announced that i2E, Inc., a nonprofit that
assists Oklahoma’s emerging small businesses, and seven state partners with the
assistance of a $200,000 matching federal grant are taking a popular venture
assessment program to rural Oklahoma and Native American entrepreneurs.
State
partners include the Cherokee Nation, Choctaw Nation, Chickasaw Nation,
Muscogee (Creek) Nation, Oklahoma Business Roundtable and the Oklahoma Center
for the Advancement of Science & Technology (OCAST). Rural Enterprises of Oklahoma, Inc., is also
a supporting partner. The U.S. Economic Development Association (EDA) awarded
the grant in November.
Known as
GrowOK, the program will debut this spring with a curriculum designed
especially for rural communities and Native American entrepreneurs.
The governor said the initiative is an innovative step in diversifying the
state’s economy in rural areas as well as its urban centers.
“I’m so
pleased that i2E is taking this creative program to Oklahoma’s rural and Native
American population,” said Fallin. “It will offer rural entrepreneurs access to
services that will help them find new markets and new customers for products
developed in their communities.”
The
GrowOK curriculum will challenge rural and Native American entrepreneurs to
identify their customers and determine whether their concept solves a true
market need, said Scott Meacham, i2E’s president and chief executive officer.
i2E
provides business advisory services and investment capital to high-growth
startups across Oklahoma.
“Thanks to the federal Economic Development
Administration and our great partners here in Oklahoma, this program will allow
i2E to take our services to the state’s Native American and rural entrepreneurs
in areas where they live and work,” Meacham said. “Our mission with GrowOK will be to help grow
successful ventures in rural communities across the state.”
i2E has
provided its Venture Assessment Program as an intensive three-week course at
its Tulsa and Oklahoma City offices since 2015, helping scores of entrepreneurs
validate their business concepts and reach out to potential first customers.
The
first GrowOK class is expected to launch next month in Ada.
For
i2E’s tribal partners, the GrowOK program provides another tool for their small
business development organization to bring in outside expertise and as a
business growth opportunity for their members.
i2E was
one of 35 nonprofits, institutions of higher education and entrepreneur-focused
organizations from 19 states across the nation that were awarded a total of $15
million to create and expand initiatives to support entrepreneurship.
The
$199,749 grant awarded to i2E was from among a pool of more than 215 applicants
nationwide as part of the EDA’s Regional Innovation Strategies Program (RIS).
About i2E, Inc.
With
offices in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, OK, i2E’s nationally recognized services
include business expertise and funding for Oklahoma’s emerging small
businesses. i2E has more than $40 million of investment capital under
management. For more information, go to www.i2E.org
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