PrintThe woman who founded the Build-A-Bear Workshop with its well-known chain of mall-based retail stores will be a presenter during the first Women Entrepreneurs Inspire Conference next month in Oklahoma City.
Maxine Clark will share her business experiences and insight along with more than two dozen other national and state business experts and company owners, said Nola Miyasaki, director of the Riata Center for Entrepreneurship in the Spears School of Business at Oklahoma State University.
The center is presenting the event to inspire female entrepreneurs already in business and those wanting to join the growing club, Miyasaki said.
The March 30 conference at the Cox Convention Center is part of the center's educational outreach mission to share its resources with the community, she said.
"We will have successful women entrepreneurs give tips and advice, and talk about their businesses to inspire and support others," Miyasaki added.
Almost half of the presenters who will lead breakout sessions are from Oklahoma. "The objective is to bring women entrepreneurs together to learn," she said.
"Our program is new and we're basically rolling it out to the state."
Sessions will include a focus on information for those on the startup track and for those looking to grow their business.
Participants also will hear suggestions from Cordia Harrington, founder of the Tennessee Bun Co., the largest bun producer in the United States and an exclusive vendor to fast-food chain McDonald's, is also a keynote speaker.
One morning segment will feature Pam Fountain, president of Principal Technologies Inc., a local recruitment and placement firm specializing in placing people in accounting, finance, information technology, engineering and government positions.
Fountain was recommended for her background in employment, and her expertise in starting a company and adding a staff.
"My experience with OSU programs is that they are first-class," she said, and a women's entrepreneurial conference from one of the state's largest schools is encouraging, she added.
Sessions also will be lead by professors at the OSU School of Entrepreneurship who will talk about business plans, guerilla marketing, sales, legal issues, financing, accounting and numerous other issues facing female entrepreneurs, school head Michael Morris said.
Local small business owner Michelle Ellis plans to attend the conference with a goal of meeting other women just like herself.
"I'm just interested in women with their own businesses," she said. "I want to be with those women who have started or are pursuing their dream."
Ellis is living her own dream after opening No Regrets, a retail stationery and invitation store three and a half years ago. With her zeal of helping others and focus on customer service, her business is doing well, she said.
"I'm interested in keeping local businesses going," she said.
If you go
→Conference registration and continental breakfast is from 7:45 to 8:30 a.m.; a networking luncheon is from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. The event ends at 5:30 p.m.
→The registration fee is $35 before March 15. To register or for more information, call the Riata Center for Entrepreneurship at 744-7552 or visit weinspire.net.
→Companies interested in sponsorships or exhibit tables for the conference should contact Riata Center assistant director Mary Means at 744-7871 or mary.means@okstate.edu
→To see the conference program: entrepreneurship.okstate.edu/files/documents/outreach/riata/inspire/program_panel.pdf
→For a list of presenters: entrepreneurship.okstate.edu/files/documents/outreach/riata/inspire/presenters_panel.pdf
→For more information about the Riata Center, visit entrepreneurship.okstate.edu/.
