OTEF, the Opportunity Through Entrepreneurship Foundation, educates and invests in people and organizations that create hope.
Making a Difference
In our early years, OTEF funding came through our 8 statewide entrepreneurship conferences. The annual Arizona Entrepreneurship Conference (AZEC) brought together local and national thought leaders to inspire each other and share ideas. AZEC events catalyzed Arizona’s nascent entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Today, Arizona is home to a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem and OTEF is making an impact with three focused initiatives.
OTEF Entrepreneurial Education helps people in at-risk communities become self-sufficient.
More than 1,000 entrepreneurs and non-profit partners started businesses with OTEF support.
D3Bio provides students the opportunity to make connections with industry leaders.
Over 1,000 Arizona Students have participated in these programs since the program began in 2011.
AZAdvances provides funding and support to life science researchers and entrepreneurs.
A collaboration between OTEF and AZBio, AZAdvances is designed to provide grants to non-profit organizations that support the life science entrepreneurial ecosystem and mission related investments in early-stage life science companies who are working to develop services, treatments and cures that benefit people facing health risks and challenges. AZBio is administering the 3-year, $300K RIS-Seed Fund Support Grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Authority (EDA) which provides infrastructure support for this statewide development effort.
OTEF 