Tulsa has been making moves and the rest of the country has started to take note.
It’s been named among the best cities for remote work and young professionals, to raise a family and to retire. Tulsa recently hit the 1 million mark for population, growing 8% in the past ten years, and now is a majority minority city. The Tulsa Remote program, where eligible participants receive $10,000 and other benefits to move to Tulsa, has been a model copied in dozens of cities across the country. 36 Degrees North, “Tulsa’s Basecamp for Entrepreneurs”, recently opened a tech-led business incubator – their third such location. Tulsa Innovation Labs is a thriving hub for innovation focused on everything from cyber security to virtual health, and Atento Capital a Tulsa-based investment firm focused on returns, quality jobs and being helpful to the Tulsa community.
Several of these initiatives, including Tulsa Remote, are spearheaded in part by the George Kaiser Family Foundation (GKFF). With all of the exciting activity in Tulsa right now, GKFF wants to help ensure that the entrepreneurial ecosystem growth is intentional and inclusive.
“At GKFF we have a mission to create a vibrant and inclusive Tulsa community and through that, we have invested in both placemaking and talent initiatives.” shared Ben Stewart, GKFF’s Senior Program Officer. “As the ecosystem grows here, we want to avoid creating the silos that often exist in the entrepreneurial community.
We saw Heartland Forward’s Community Growth Program and Toolkit and Builders and Backers’ Idea Accelerator program, which is a core part of it, as a key starting point to build and grow an inclusive entrepreneurial hub in Tulsa.”
GKFF and Lobeck Taylor Family Foundation came together to fund the Idea Accelerator’s inaugural cohort in Tulsa. The Idea Accelerator program was open to any resident of Tulsa in May 2021. Applicants were asked to identify a problem that they care about, share an idea for solving it, and demonstrate a willingness to learn how to design an experiment to test that idea. From the applicants, ten Tulsans were selected and have been off and running with their experiments over the summer.
“This program is democratizing access to entrepreneurship by saying, ‘why don’t you take an idea and let’s take the next step to test and experiment?’ Then see from there where you can best plug in and fit within the broader entrepreneurial ecosystem,” Ben explains. “And I think that that’s a very powerful, actionable next step.”
The idea of experimentation is at the center of the Idea Accelerator.
“For many people, the steps to put an idea into action can be daunting - quit a job, start a company, raise funds. In reality we shouldn’t be taking those steps until we test the idea in some form and know whether it has merit that warrants a bigger step.” explained our CEO Donna Harris.
Right now in Tulsa, our Builders are running really exciting projects, including:
- revitalizing empty and vacant lots into food truck parks
- city-wide business loyalty program that also tells the businesses stories
- professional matchmaking tool designed for connecting BIPOC entrepreneurs and creatives
- membership-based organization for young Black professionals
- an app that democratizes college admissions counseling
- an effort to get Black-owned businesses listed on Google maps
- mobile space observatory to help more kids be exposed to astronomy
- connecting into Native foods and Indigenous producers to areas of food scarcity.
- using vacant buildings and QR codes as a way to connect artists to the community
They are running these experiments in connection with many local community organizations as well, including Greenwood Rising, Blueprint918, TYPROS, The Phoenix District Tulsa, Social Media Tulsa and more.
“One of my colleagues likes to say ‘Tulsa’s best days aren’t behind it but ahead of us,’” Ben tells us. “Thinking intentionally about that inclusive growth, that diversity and inclusion piece, led us to think Builders and Backers is a great encapsulation of how we’re putting a holistic suite of programs, services, and resources to work within the community.”
To learn more about the Tulsa Builders, click here.