Elected officials joined Tulsa business owners Friday to brainstorm ways to make entrepreneurship easier for Oklahomans.
Dozens of attendees at the town hall, hosted at downtown innovation hub Gradient, expressed their concerns on the paths to getting licenses, access to permits and funding opportunities.
“I’m here to listen,” Mayor Monroe Nichols said. “We actually have a sizable amount of resources, and the question is, ‘How are we actually spending those to build a long-term developing economy?’ I think that starts with strong investment in entrepreneurship.”
The panel, hosted by State Sen. Jo Anna Dossett, D-Tulsa, was part of Gradient’s annual Global Entrepreneurship Week.
The town hall also featured Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell along with local business owners and agencies who spoke on behalf of entrepreneurs who say they have struggled to create or maintain businesses due to government hurdles.
A study conducted by Right to Start, a nonprofit seeking to expand entrepreneurial opportunity, found over 15 million Americans did not start a new business in part because of government fees.
Attendees were given the opportunity to have more intimate discussions on specific subjects in breakout groups. They brainstormed solutions to problems in manufacturing, private funding, brick-and-mortar operations, small business and tech.
One of the biggest areas of concern was making grant funding more accessible to small organizations. Emily Harden, former executive director of the tech professional group Techlahoma Foundation, said some nonprofits struggle to win funding because there is an abundance of cause-specific grants for topics like education and religion — and not enough for nonprofits that offer a wide variety of services.
“There are so many nonprofits that don’t fit into those buckets or they fit into five buckets,” Harden said. “So having to pick one is very difficult.”
Cecilia Wessinger, an ambassador for the nonprofit entrepreneur advocacy group Right to Start, said the town hall came to fruition after she had a private conversation with Dossett in 2023 on how they could work together to make the pursuit of business an easier endeavor.
In response, Dossett authored Senate Bill 812, a measure to analyze how many state contracts are awarded to businesses five years and younger. The bill didn’t make it to the floor for a vote.
A similar event will be hosted in Oklahoma City at a later date, Wessinger said. Once the data is collected from both events, Right to Start plans to help draft proposals for policymakers on how to widen the window of opportunity for business owners and entrepreneurs.
Ismael Lele is a Report for America corps member and writes about business in Tulsa for The Oklahoma Eagle. Your donation to match our Report for America grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting this link.
