Tulsa Regional Chamber Hosts Summit To Aid Small Business Owners

Tulsa small business owners are struggling during the pandemic, so the Tulsa Regional Chamber is working to help them succeed.

The Tulsa Regional Chamber's annual small business summit was held virtually instead of in-person Tuesday.

The chamber said it’s important to bring small businesses together to share ideas to keep their businesses and Tulsa’s economy running in a time of uncertainty.

"We make up a very large percentage of the businesses in Tulsa in general and same within the Tulsa chamber,” said Weldon Bowman, Tulsa Regional Chamber's Small Business Connection Chairman. “I think the statistics run anywhere from 70% to 80% of the businesses associated with the chamber are small businesses so it's very, very important for small businesses to remain relevant.”

More than 300 Tulsa area business owners and their employees discussed many topics, including how to be successful in a digital world to not overwhelming employees with too many video calls. 

One of the keynote speakers talked about how to view the pandemic as an opportunity for change. 

"There's probably not very many small businesses that haven't had some kind of a layoff, some kind of a furlough, some kind of a riff in some way,” Tracy Spears said. “So in some way, and this is going to sound heartless, but it's kind of a good opportunity to get the right people in the right organization.” 

To listen to some of the speakers, you can contact the chamber to gain access to those videos.