Ashli Sims is the managing director of Build in Tulsa, a program that aims to close the racial wealth gap in America by creating generational Black wealth through tech and entrepreneurship. Rooted in the legacy of Black Wall Street, Build in Tulsa is committed to providing opportunities for minority entrepreneurs who have historically been denied resources and funding.
What are some of the benefits of building a business in Tulsa?
I believe that we’re the type of community, and I emphasize the word community, that Black entrepreneurs want to be a part of. We are in the middle of the country. We have a relatively lower cost of living than some of our peer cities or coastal cities, and we are a community small enough that you will know people here who can help you elevate and share their wisdom with you. We’re a big enough community that we have a cosmopolitan feel. We have a world-class public private park called The Gathering Place. We have renowned museums such as the Philbrook Museum and Gilcrease Museum. We have an energy to our city that I think marks us as a place to be and then the history that truly runs through the veins of our city. We were the epicenter of Black wealth in the 1920s. It was right here in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that folks came from all over the country to be here and build, and we’re really trying to recapture that spirit. We have a series of programs that are dedicated to Black entrepreneurs amplifying and elevating them. We know that this is an important process for entrepreneurs, they have barriers that our counterparts don’t have, so we build programs specifically to address those barriers, particularly for Black women. We know that Black women only receive half of 1% of venture capital dollars. That’s abysmal, so we’re building a system that’s designed to make sure that fact does not continue. We’re investing in Black women, we are investing in their human capital, their social capital, and their financial capital, and we’re seeing them win.
Give us an example of the opportunities that our community should know about.
At the heart of Tulsa is our accelerator network. Each of these programs are designed to meet the entrepreneur wherever they are in their journey. They hit on those three pillars which are human capital, social capital, and financial capital. With the W.E. Build accelerator, which stands for Women Entrepreneurs Build, it does center on Black women. That program comes with a $25,000 business grant to help you develop your business, but it also comes with some other perks like a cost of living stipend that you receive every month. For every month that you’re in the program, you receive $1,000 to help you make ends meet, and may not take care of all of your expenses for the month but it is designed to help you make it a little bit easier. These programs are full-time so many people have to pull back from their jobs or pull back from their businesses in order to fully take advantage of them. We know that’s a barrier for people, so we provide that cost of living assistance, no matter what accelerator program that you’re taking advantage of here in Tulsa. That’s something that not all cities can claim.
Is there a success story or a company that comes to mind that you’re excited and proud of from a woman who has participated?
We’ve only been around for about two and a half years. In that time, we have grown to a network of 361 entrepreneurs that are active in the program. We also have facilitated around 5,000 hours worth of training and coaching, and we’ve invested $7 million into Black and Brown founders. There are a lot of success stories. W.E. Build is a brand-new program, so those founders are still getting their footing, but we’ve seen lots of success coming out of our other accelerator partners such as Lightship Capital, ACT Tulsa, and Build in Tulsa Techstars.
One of our shining stars is Edna Martinson, who won the Black Ambition Prize for her company. It is an ed-tech gaming platform that helps kids master their math skills through gaming technology. She has the number one-rated app in the app store. They’ve gone from 100,000 users to more than a million active users every month, so we’re seeing companies like that succeed. We’re seeing people make the transition from brick-and-mortar companies to developing tech applications. One of our favorite entrepreneurs is Vinita Cooper, she has a silhouette sneaker shop, but she developed an algorithm to help you get the true value for your sneaker so you know whether you’re paying at the top of the market or whether you’re paying at a good price. That is something that wouldn’t have been developed without the network that’s here in Tulsa that helped her cultivate that idea, grow that idea, and provide funding for her to develop that idea.
There are so many more stories, from the young woman who has a detailing business that she is growing and is now employing other women. There’s the young woman who’s helping Black women executives amplify their careers through her company, Amplify Her. We have female founders’ pitch nights where we’ve given away thousands of dollars. Recently, the woman who just won has a company called Shapes, and it is a fashion line that not only looks at fit in terms of sizes but in terms of body shapes so that you can shop for your body shape as well as your size. We run the gamut from technology to beauty and wellness to consumer product goods. We’re here to make sure that Black people and Black women have equal opportunity.
The Black Venture Summit in Tulsa will bring together the top Black talent in venture capital from across America to Tulsa, Oklahoma, Oct. 4-6. You will have the opportunity to connect one-on-one with those at the forefront of equity and inclusion in the venture.
