Dr. Andrea Ortega, founder and chief executive of Palante Nonprofits and PhiloFund, walks the runway during an interactive segment at Building Our Tech’s Signature Summit on April 11.
Valentina Solorzano
In the heart of downtown Orlando, entrepreneurship is gaining momentum with UCF alumni-founded organizations such as Building Our Tech, which helps students and business owners connect and learn to scale their ideas in a technology-driven world.
“We do activities on campus,” said Safia Porter, executive director of Building Our Teach. “We talk about time blocking, we talk quite a bit about pitching themselves as well. So they’ll reach out and just get some more one-on-one mentorship from us.”
Building Our Tech, or BOT, is a community-oriented nonprofit connecting people to opportunities in technology, entrepreneurship and workforce development.
The organization was co-founded 10 years ago by Joshua Walker and Mike Felix, a UCF alumnus. Until January, it was known as Black Orlando Tech. Felix said the organization started as an organization for Black tech professionals seeking others like them, but has since evolved into a citywide network focused on accessibility, education and community-building within the tech space.
“It felt fun at first, then it felt sort of fundamental, and then it turned into essential,” Felix said. “It became less about having a great meetup and more about realizing this is actually changing people’s lives.”
Porter said the organization has expanded its reach through direct collaboration with UCF students, offering internships, apprenticeships, connections, and mentorships. Porter works directly with UCF; she is a mentor and engages with the Blackstone LaunchPad at UCF, which provides free one-on-one coaching to students with startup ideas.
BOT hosts events to help entrepreneurs and founders in their ventures. For instance, the Signature Summit on April 11, where various professionals were invited to speak on topics including branding, communicating with clients and avoiding burnout.
Ethan Orovitz, junior marketing major, was in attendance at the summit. He is hoping to launch his own brand, Meraki, and the sense of community in BOT translates into real-world confidence and direction. He said the summit helped him feel more prepared to take the next steps toward starting his business.
“Everybody here has the same goal,” Oravetz said. “I was able to connect with people and learn from their experiences.”
Felix said that this collaborative mindset is crucial to BOT’s mission, particularly in a city like Orlando, where opportunities abound.
“You can’t go very far alone,” Felix said. “BOT showed me that you have to build with others.”
Orlando’s entrepreneurial ecosystem has been growing in recent years, continuing to attract aspiring business owners with the right resources, networking opportunities and support systems. This month, Orlando ranked second in the country for best large cities to start a business and fourth for average growth in the number of small businesses, according to WalletHub.
“In Orlando, you’re only one or two connections away from someone who can open a door for you,” Felix said.
Dr. Andrea Ortega, an adjunct professor at UCF, was at the Signature Summit as well. She is the founder and chief executive of a consulting firm called Palante Nonprofits and a financial technology organization called PhiloFund, which connects donors to nonprofits. Ortega is also a UCF alumnus. She said BOT has played a role in helping her form relationships with others like her in Orlando.
“I’m a Knight,” Ortega said. “So being able to come to events here and meet people locally who are trying to grow the tech scene is really empowering.”
Stepping into the unknown and building a startup from the ground up is challenging; you have to be a little delusional, Ortega said.
“You just have to be scared and do it anyway,” Ortega said. “Those are the ones that end up doing something revolutionary.”