SUPPORTING ENTREPRENEURS IN THE COMMUNITY

By Bob Ale-Ebrahim

The leadership at Occidental Management, Inc. (OMI) is committed to supporting entrepreneurs in the communities where we live and work. Gary Oborny our Chairman and CEO’s philosophy is to partner with our tenants wherever possible to help their business succeed. As a company, we contribute annually and volunteer in the community, as well as sponsor and host events to benefit meaningful initiatives and organizations. Organizations that we contribute to and support this mission are the Create Campaign, Inc., The Greater Wichita Partnership, the Entrepreneurship Task Force (ETF), Founder’s Grove, Destination Innovation, e2e Accelerator/NXTUS, Youth Entrepreneurs of Kansas (YEK) and the Wichita State Shocker New Venture Competition.

Growing Small Businesses

As a company, we support our entrepreneurial tenants by helping them through the entire leasing process. We often lend guidance in creating business plans, helping connect them to resources to secure financing, lending our experience and marketing, and providing access to valuable resources while they are getting started. Entrepreneurship is at the heart of OMI, and from sales to maintenance and our construction teams we make every effort to support small businesses

Creating Value For Our Tenants

We all succeed when our tenants succeed, so we believe in going beyond the typical landlord-tenant experience. We want to add value for our tenants. One way we add that extra value is by offering marketing aid from our internal marketing team.

Currently, we have a marketing campaign called “Entrepreneurs Wanted,” showcasing some tenant testimonials. We want to increase exposure and generate traffic for our tenants. So, our marketing team also assists in creating and crosspromoting social media posts, writing press releases and articles, and even creating ads for the tenants of this magazine.

Investing In The Entrepreneurial Spirit In Our Community

Occidental Management Chairman and CEO Gary Oborny sits on the board of Create Campaign, Inc. — a nonprofit dedicated to serving urban entrepreneurs in Kansas. The organization is one of several community projects the company’s leadership team invests in and participates in the Wichita community.

Gary is also a founding Chair of E2E and is a current NXTUS board member. NXTUS connects entrepreneurs to what they need most: a community of mentor and resources, capital for startups, and customers to support growth.

Gary also serves on the leadership council of the Greater Wichita Partnership (GWP). The GWP was created in 2015 to serve as a liaison between the private and public sectors and encourage economic growth throughout the region. The GWP created the Entrepreneurship Task Force (ETF), which cultivates a stronger entrepreneurial ecosystem in Wichita. Gary was the founding Co-Chair for the ETF. One of the major accomplishments of the GWP has been bringing in the E2E Accelerator (now NXTUS), the first startup accelerator in the state.

ENTREPRENEURS REALLY ARE WANTED!

Destination Innovation is a program of Destination Innovation Inc., that aligns boldly resilient young people with the tools and mindset to move courageously, with purpose and discipline, to activate under-served communities. Camp Destination Innovation offers programs designed to expose marginalized youth ages 14-18 to careers outside of traditional norms with a target focus on entrepreneurship, including social entrepreneurship.

Camp Destination Innovation is hosted by the Wichita Urban YEC, along with NetWork Kansas and K-State, and funds young business leaders’ dreams across the state. This investment helps to fund young entrepreneurs’ business plans which gives them their “golden ticket” to turn their business ideas into real sustainable businesses. In fact, one such recipient of the Wichita Urban YEC is OMI’s very own Nick Flores. Flores works as a leasing agent for OMI, an opportunity that stemmed from his participation in YEC. Nick was the 2018 winner of the Wichita Urban YEC.

Today T-Mobile has taken over this project which is now known as the T-Mobile Accelerator. Startups work directly with T-Mobile leaders and other industry experts and mentors to develop and commercialize the next disruptive emerging products, applications, and solutions made possible by T-Mobile’s nationwide 5G network today and in the future.

We care about the communities in which we live and work, and want our tenants to succeed, and we’ll go the extra step to ensure that success. If you’ve got the entrepreneurial spirit and drive, and are ready to talk, we’re here and ready to listen. Give us a call at 316.262.3331.