Mid-Country, Mid-Market, Multi-Options: Oklahoma City Is Building For The Future
Interview with Jeff Seymour , Executive Vice-President, Economic Development Greater Oklahoma City Chamber
Q: What characterizes Oklahoma City’s business environment? Jeff Seymour: Oklahoma City has an interesting history and one that has always been very entrepreneurial. It emerged more or less overnight during the land run of the late 1800s, growing rapidly until the late 1980s / early 1990s when it became apparent we needed to focus on economic diversification and community reinvention. Oklahoma City’s specific business focus over the past thirty years has been on building a community where people and families would enjoy living, through strategic public and private investments in quality- of-life infrastructure, knowing new business growth would follow. This strategy, of having the right people with the right ideas living in the Oklahoma City metro, has led to the creation of a much more robust local economy.
Q: Given that tomorrow’s world is going to be more digitally connected and customer-centric, how is Oklahoma City ensuring its investment strategy meets these new requirements? JS: Oklahoma City leaned heavily into the ‘place- making’ conversation before it became the standard. But it has to be about more than a good place to live. The ecosystems and infrastructure that surround a modern city are vital in presenting it as an attractive option to businesses as well as people. COVID-19 has launched us into a new iteration of our economic future built around forward-looking innovation ecosystems, with the center of this ecosystem being technically skilled and talented people prepared for a digital future. This ecosystem must be based on collaborations between the private, public and philanthropic sectors. As a Chamber, one of our primary missions right now is to work with these partners to better align, recruit and retain digital talent, working with existing and new training providers, and ensuring that these digitally skilled individuals are connected to career opportunities. Simultaneously, we are also working to ensure that businesses of all sizes have more robust opportunities to participate in inclusive innovation work moving forward. That work includes increasing our capacity to start and scale companies, developing more robust local platforms for corporate innovation, and creating and recruiting connectivity to innovation best practices from other markets.
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