Oklahoma Farm Bureau Rural Economic Development Coordinator Amarie Bartel recently discussed the organization’s fall 2024 Oklahoma Grassroots Rural and Ag Business Accelerators Activate Oklahoma cohort.
It is “a program designed to empower and come alongside Oklahoma’s rural and agricultural business innovators,” Bartel said. “We work with anyone from a community of 50,000 individuals or less, and we work with companies as early as the ideation stage. If you have an idea on a napkin or maybe a prototype sitting in the shop, you are a great fit for us. We scale to working with companies as advanced as early revenue stages.”
Bartel said the application process is free. Applicants simply must come from a community of 50,000 people or less.
“The state of the company is of lesser importance to us,” she said. “We just want to be a resource that can come alongside and equip Oklahoma’s rural founders, so they feel supported to continue to do great things for our state.”
Activate Oklahoma applications are open through Aug. 2. To apply, visit okfarmbureau.org/acceleratorapp/.
Bartel said that the program begins with the basics and becomes more advanced as it progresses. She said founders have an opportunity to grow their marketing opportunity knowledge, customer discovery and intellectual property in a classroom-style environment. The program prioritizes growing each founder’s network.
“Some of the stages of our curriculum involve connecting them with mentors or connecting them with a small business development center advisor, which is one of our cherished strategic partners,” she said. “We use a combination of both classroom-style learning and hands-on learning where we bring in experts to help the founder feel supported to move through the curriculum.”
The program gives entrepreneurs a chance to pitch their business ideas to investors. Funding is not guaranteed, but the opportunity to connect with investors is.
“We want to expose them to a room full of opportunities where they can network and choose the investing mechanism that is right for them,” Bartel said.
To learn more about the Oklahoma Grassroots Rural and Ag Business Accelerators program, visit okfarmbureau. org/accelerator.