Welcome to OEI Next, the new community hub for Okoboji Entrepreneurial Institute students, supporters, faculty and alumni.

OEI Next will serve current students and supporters as the go-to online source for communications and event updates. OEI alumni will also be able to use this website to remain in touch with the OEI community by sharing their support and providing updates on where their entrepreneurial journeys have taken them.

About OEI

For six days every August, the Okoboji Entrepreneurial Institute (OEI) welcomes 32 of the brightest college entrepreneurs from the state of Iowa to the Iowa Lakes region. These students represent our partner institutions: Buena Vista University, Iowa Lakes Community College, Iowa State University, the University of Iowa and University of Northern Iowa.

OEI activities

Throughout the six days, OEI students:

• Participate in a realistic, in-depth business startup simulator.
• Gain access to a vast network of business owners, economic growth advocates, investors and OEI alumni.
• Establish relationships with area business owners and entrepreneurs.
• Develop lifelong connections with their OEI classmates.

OEI support

This annual event is made possible by sponsors, host families, area businesses and volunteers. These supporters are committed to ensuring the continued success of OEI, which since its first year in 2006, has developed into the premiere college-credit entrepreneurship program in the State of Iowa.

OEI is administered by the Iowa Lakes Corridor Development Corporation, the economic development organization for Buena Vista, Clay, Dickinson and Emmet counties in northwest Iowa.