Over the past year, rural business owners and entrepreneurs across Oklahoma gathered in classrooms, auditoriums, and meeting halls to do more than attend a handful of workshops; they connected to a growing ecosystem designed to help small businesses start smarter, grow stronger, and stay rooted in their communities. Now, following a successful 2025 season that reached every corner of the state, Launch Rural Oklahoma is preparing to bring that momentum back to rural communities with a new, five-event Small Business Resource Conference series launching March 2026.

In 2025, Launch Rural Oklahoma, a statewide consortium of entrepreneurial and business support organizations funded by the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST), convened hundreds of small business owners and ecosystem partners through a series of regional conferences that delivered practical training, peer connections, and direct access to capital and technical assistance providers. These conferences brought access to connections and opportunities many rural business owners had never had before.

The 2025 conferences spanned all four quadrants of the state with host sites including: Eastern Oklahoma State College in Wilburton, Southwest Technology Center in Altus, Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology in Okmulgee, and Northwest Technology Centers in Fairview and Alva. Each event blended statewide expertise with local insight, offering attendees tools in marketing, customer discovery, financing, artificial intelligence applications, and early-stage idea development at no cost to participants.

These conferences are ultimately focused on creating direct access pathways to Oklahoma’s robust business support network— resources many Oklahoma entrepreneurs, especially those in the state’s rural communities, never access. Fortunately, for many 2025 conference attendees, the impact of these events extended well beyond a single day, with the majority of attendees reporting they gained new ideas to better manage their businesses and many reporting planned changes to their business directly as a result of the conference.

“These conferences proved there is enormous demand for high-quality, accessible business support in rural Oklahoma,” said Amarie Bartel, rural economic development coordinator with the Oklahoma Farm Bureau. “Rural Oklahoma’s small business owners showed up ready to learn, to connect, and to take action. Our 2026 series builds directly on that energy.”

That long-term focus on building direct access paths to resources business owners can actually use remains central to the Spring 2026 series, which will again bring Launch Rural Oklahoma’s one-day Small Business Resource Conference format to five strategic locations across the state. Each event will feature a mix of statewide mentors, funding partners, and subject-matter experts alongside regional organizations embedded in the local business community.

This spring, the Small Business Resource Conferences are scheduled for: ● March 23, 2026: Kiamichi Technology Center in McAlester (Southeast) ● March 30, 2026: Southern Technology Center in Ardmore (South Central) ● April 20, 2026: Rogers State University in Claremore (Northeast) ● April 27, 2026: Northwest Technology Center in Fairview (Northwest) ● May 4, 2026: Caddo Kiowa Technology Center in Fort Cobb (Southwest) As in 2025, the 2026 conference series is designed to serve entrepreneurs at every stage, from ideators refining an early concept to established small business owners navigating growth and new opportunities. Attendees can expect hands-on learning, peer networking, and direct connections to local and statewide capital resource and technical assistance providers (e.g., accountants, lenders, attorneys, marketing and business consultants, sales professionals, etc.), as well as other other follow-on programs available across Oklahoma, including business accelerator and incubator programs.

“What we saw in 2025 was the power of meeting entrepreneurs where they are,” said Bartel. “Spring 2026 is about deepening those relationships and continuing to strengthen rural Oklahoma’s entrepreneurial backbone.”

Registration details for the Spring 2026 Launch Rural Oklahoma Small Business Conference series will be released soon. Additional information will be available atwww. launchruralok.com/conferences/.

About Launch Rural Oklahoma Launch Rural Oklahoma is a consortium of rural Oklahoma business support organizations— including state agencies, career technology centers, colleges and universities, incubators, accelerators, funding partners, and more—working collaboratively to expand access to business resources for rural entrepreneurs. Through conferences, an interactive resource map, and coordinated support, Launch Rural Oklahoma brings critical tools and connections directly to rural communities across the state. More information is available at www.launchruralok.com.