OKLAHOMA (OBV) — Rural innovators and startups can now apply to participate in the Oklahoma Grassroots Rural & Ag Business Accelerators program’s Activate Oklahoma 2024 fall cohort.
Businesses that meet the following qualifications will be accepted by the program:
- Have a significant nexus in Oklahoma; and
- Located or based in a community with a population of 50,000 or less.
Activate Oklahoma connects innovative rural Oklahoma businesses with generous partner organizations who provide resources and assistance.
“Activate Oklahoma is designed for any rural-based business with an innovation or product that will bring economic opportunities to rural Oklahoma,” an Oklahoma Grassroots Rural & Ag Business Accelerators news release states.
Activate Oklahoma graduates qualify for an opportunity to pitch their innovation, technology or venture to an investment capital partners panel at the Accelerators Demo Day for a chance to receive equity investment in their enterprise.
The program also prepares founders for non-dilutive funding opportunities such as grants, loans and creative lending mechanisms.
Applications for the Activate Oklahoma fall cohort are available online until 11:59 p.m. Aug. 2.
Successful applicants participate for free in either the AgCelerate Oklahoma or Activate Oklahoma pipelines. But participants must pay for their travel, lodging and other costs, as well as any product or innovation development costs resulting from participation in either pipeline.
Successful applicants must attend the hybrid cohort training for their specific track. Some in-person training sessions will be held in Oklahoma City or El Reno, while other trainings will be live-streamed for cohort members’ remote participation.
Key dates for our 2024 Activate Oklahoma fall cohort are as follows:
- Applicant Interviews: August 27-38 (via Zoom)
- Acceptance Notification: August 29
- Pre-Meetings: September 6, 13 and 20
- Bootcamp (tentative date): September 23-26
- Practice Pitch Event (tentative date): September 30
- Customer Discovery Module Begins: October 3
Subsequent programming to follow
Apply on the Oklahoma Farm Bureau website for the Activate Oklahoma 2024 Fall Cohort!
Go to the OKFB website to learn more about the program.
