Tulsa author, entrepreneur and columnist Jim Stovall presented a $1 million donation to Oral Roberts University, his alma mater, to help create the Stovall Center for Entrepreneurship.

The million dollar donation, plus a $500,000 matching grant, is not the first donation Stovall has made to ORU.

“The Stovall Center for Entrepreneurship will enable ORU to continue building whole leaders for the whole world who are equipped with new and innovative business ideas that transform not only people but also communities and nations,” said ORU President Dr. William M. Wilson. “This amazing gift will allow ORU to aggressively pursue our commitment to developing leaders in business and entrepreneurship.”

Stovall graduated from ORU in 1981. He and his wife, Crystal Stovall, along with the Tulsa Community Foundation, made this donation “because they know the power entrepreneurship can have in transforming lives, especially among the disadvantaged and underserved,” said Wilson.

The Center will reside within the College of Business and allow ORU to attract and retain students with exceptional abilities to create new business concepts, start-up incubators, accelerators and launchpads. It will also host workshops, boot camps and lectures; set up networking with entrepreneur collectives; provide space for entrepreneurial faculty and professionals to mentor and coach students; and allocate resources for mission-based entrepreneurial initiatives such as micro-financing and venture capital.

“We envision the Stovall Center for Entrepreneurship will provide the essential knowledge, skills, and ethics needed to equip ORU students to engage the world’s biggest challenges with God’s best solutions,” said Jim Stovall. “In this extraordinary age of entrepreneurship, our desire is to unite and champion a thriving entrepreneurial spirit among all ORU students.”  

Stovall is founder and president of Narrative Television Network, which has made television and media accessible to the 13 million blind and visually impaired in the United States. He founded the network in 1988, just a year after fully losing his sight at age 29. He’s the recipient of the President’s Committee on Equal Opportunity Entrepreneur of the Year award and the International Humanitarian of the Year award, joining Jimmy Carter, Nancy Reagan, and Mother Teresa. Stovall is also a recipient of ORU’s Lifetime Global Achievement honor. Stovall is the bestselling author of over 40 books including The Ultimate Gift, The Ultimate Life, and The Lamp, all of which have been made into major motion pictures.

In the years ahead, the Stovall Center for Entrepreneurship will feature an array of new academic programs including undergraduate and graduate degrees in entrepreneurship, a major in social entrepreneurship, an entrepreneurial executive certificate program, and certificates for entrepreneurial enterprises in healthcare, technology, ministry, and others. The Center is also committed to applying advanced technology such as Artificial Intelligence, Augmented and Virtual Reality, and ORU’s Titan Supercomputer to enhance product development and business success.