The Price College of Business offers a program known as the Integrated Business Core, which offers students the opportunity to launch and run their own businesses while simultaneously benefiting the community by donating to charity and volunteering to do community service.                 

The IBC, partnered with First Fidelity Bank, is a special program for business students to get involved in as it allows them to gain invaluable experience. By giving students the chance to create a business plan and proceed to make it a reality, they not only learn about how to run a business, but they get to physically experience it first hand.                 

All of the profits made through the businesses in this program go to non profit charities based in or near Norman. The students also give at least 500 hours of community service each semester. So while developing advanced skills in the business field, students also get to improve the community through their hard work.                 

Since IBC was founded in 1995, its student-founded companies have raised and donated over $ 1 million to charities and have completed over 48,000 hours of community service. That is an impressive feat for such a young program, and it has a wealth of potential to grow exponentially.                 

Some of the current companies in the IBC include the Sooner Fleece Company, Sooner Sound, Boomer Boxers and ‘Homa Hats. All aspects of these companies are completely operated and managed by students. Each student business has its own unique product and donates to a diverse group of charities as well as volunteers for community service at different non-profits in the community.                 

The Sooner Fleece Company with the slogan, “Sooner Warm, Sooner Thread” is led by president, Maggie White, and is selling the 125th Anniversary Commemorative Fleece. They will be giving 100 percent of the proceeds earned from the fleeces to the Sooners Helping Sooners Foundation and the Aspiring Americans Initiative. SHS aids OU students with money during times of emergency, and AAI helps undocumented students in Oklahoma find pathways to success.The students involved in the Sooner Fleece Company also volunteer at the Second Chance Animal Sanctuary where they help abandoned cats and dogs find a home and they have an overall goal of documenting 900 hours by the end of the semester.                

The Sooner Sound business is run by 20 business students, and the the president is Tiffany Nguyen. This group of is selling a portable, customizable, Bluetooth speaker. Sooner Sound is dedicated to improving the community as well and is partnering with the non-profit Transition House by giving all of their proceeds to this charity. Transition House helps people suffering from mental illness and addictions to find the road to recovery. The Sooner Sound business students have a goal of serving 900 hours at the non-profit organization Loveworks. Loveworks aims to teach the young middle school students of Norman how to become leaders.                  

The Boomer Boxers business is headed by CEO, Michael Wiedemann, and the company’s marketable product is red flannel boxers, with the state of Oklahoma and the OU symbol printed on them. Their philanthropy of choice to donate to is the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. This foundation is close to the company’s heart, because one of their own members suffers from Type 1 Diabetes, so they are very proud to help raise money and awareness for diabetes and fund research for a cure. The Boomer Boxers team will be completing their community service by helping out at McKinley Elementary School based in Norman where the Price students will aid the teachers and serve as mentors to the students.                 

The last student founded company in IBC is ‘Homa Hats. This company follows the mantra “where friends become customers, and customers become friends.” ‘Homa Hats sells the product of a baseball hat in either blue or gray with the Osage symbol on the front. This company is paired with the Make a Wish Foundation which they will donate all their proceeds to in order to send 7-year-old Simon, who has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, to Disney World. The students of this company will also be doing community service by aiding the teachers and students at Washington Elementary.

The IBC program offered by Price is an extraordinary opportunity for business students and it plays a significant role in emphasizing the importance of giving back to the community and fostering moral business ethics. IBC is creating a strong foundation for business students to build off of and is generating remarkable future leaders of companies. It will be exciting to see how this program grows in the coming years and continues to enrich the lives of OU students and Norman community members alike.