Main Street Lifestyles

This category is for small business startups whose products or services are readily available to the general public. Businesses in category may have a brick and mortar location or run a retail operation completely online. Main Street businesses innovate through execution and differentiation strategies.

Big City/High Tech

This category is for high tech startups that have some sort of intellectual property at the core of their technology offerings. Businesses in this category will usually have patents to disclose or have a unique offering that can scale into large industries. High Tech businesses innovate through technology and go-to market strategies.

 

         Category Sponsor

Social Enterprise

This category is for social endeavors that are trying to develop, fund and implement solutions to social, cultural or environmental issues. Businesses in this category could focus on either domestic or international issues in an attempt to better society.

Rising Entrepreneurs

Previous competition winners go head-to-head as they prepare and present their best presentation to date.

Scholarship Description

The Richard L. Tourtellotte Family Scholarship is designed to encourage business creation in Oklahoma and academic study of how governments and the private sector can work together to grow economies and create jobs. The family of Richard L. Tourtellotte created the scholarship to reflect their father's value in hard work and problem solving during a multifaceted career. He owned and operated Oklahoma businesses for 50+ years and spent two decades in public service, including posts with U.S. Senators Henry Bellmon and Don Nickles, where he helped solve business issues impacting the state and its residents.

Application Requirements

• Application Deadline: Dec. 16, 2024*
• Must be participating in the Riata Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship's Business Plan Competition.
• Open to ALL currently enrolled OSU undergraduate or graduate students.
• Minimum 3.0 GPA.
• Completed application. 
  
• 250-word essay on how the public and private sectors can work together to foster economic development.

APPLY HERE

 

*After the submission deadline, all applicants will be reviewed by our selection committee and the scholarship recipient selected will be announced at the awards ceremony on Jan. 24, 2025.

Scholarship Award

• The recipient of the Richard L. Tourtellotte Family Scholarship will receive a $3,000 award.
• To acknowledge their accomplishment, recipients of the Richard L. Tourtellotte Family Scholarship will receive naming recognition in the Tourtellotte Family Garden's benches, located on the north side of the Business Building.

Brenda Tapia is the recipient of the 2024 Richard L. Tourtellotte Family Scholarship.