The term “entrepreneur” often gets exaggerated.
Typical images or media showcase the constant hustler, the many-irons-in-many-fires bustler, or the big name with big bucks. Those representations have validity, but they’re not the totality.
At heart, an entrepreneur is simply “a person who organizes and operates a business or businesses,” according to the humble dictionary. That organization could employ one person or a hundred. An entrepreneur might nurture multiple enterprises off the ground, moving on when the time is right, or they might devote their entire career to one endeavor.
Here are three Lane County entrepreneurs who shine a light on all the ways a person can both grow a business, and serve their broader community.
McKay Investment Company (MIC)
Oakway Center
Coburg Road’s Oakway Center area has become a Eugene epicenter. Yet in 1962, this area of grass fields and orchards was outside the main city center. Miles McKay purchased 25 acres that, over decades of local family ownership, would become the Oakway Center we know today.
In 1966, the original Oakway Mall included Tiffany’s Drugstore, Oakway Department Store, and Albertsons supermarket. Over the years, the center has been home to national, regional and local organizations, from Mucho Gusto Mexican Kitchen to Hyatt Place Eugene.
Behind the scenes, Oakway Center continues under the management and total family ownership of McKay Investment Company (MIC), including co-managing members Steven Korth and Kim Korth Williams. Sister and co-owner Kelly Thakkar lives in Canada while serving in an advisory role. Steve’s son Alex Korth is the most recent family hire, joining MIC as property manager.
At 85, “mother and matriarch” Linda Korth no longer has an active day-to-day role in management and operations. She “still loves to check in and learn what we are up to,” notes Kim Korth Williams.
“Most centers like Oakway are owned by outsiders or real estate investment trusts (REIT),” adds Williams. “Being a locally connected development and management company is something we take a lot of pride in.”
Throughout the decades, the family has continued working toward a bigger, broader, more cohesive vision.
“The 25 acres weren’t originally developed as it was intended,” explains Steve Korth. “It was pieced together over a ten-plus year period.”
Beginning in 1998, a redevelopment master plan put a more cohesive vision to work.
Oakway “has been a good catalyst for change along the Coburg Corridor and the northeast portion of Eugene,” says Kim Williams. “The site is now effectively part of the central core of Eugene, so it is accessible to not only the neighborhood but the entire community as a whole.”
Redevelopment goals included attracting a mix of national, regional and local uses. That’s not just shopping, but dining and services from finances to wellness.
“We love being local, connected to the community, and preserving some of the past, like the Heritage Courtyard area and the annual Christmas Tree lighting celebration out front,” says Korth. “Having the connection to the past while looking to the future is something we take a lot of pride in.”
For those starting their own business journey, Korth and Williams offer this advice:
“Nothing happens without vision and risk. Be smart about investment but being forward thinking, creative, and trying to create something unique can be hard but meaningful. Align with intelligent people, ask for help and guidance, and be willing to work harder than others to make your visions a reality. Creating a team of professionals, hiring to your weakness, and collaboration is not only helpful but essential.”
Jen Carroll & Malia Schultheis
Tru Form Tiny
It’s no surprise that a company with deep local roots first sprouted in Pacific Northwest forests.
In 1978, Jen Carroll was 3 years old when his dad, Jon Carroll (now co-owner), planted trees with the Hoedads Reforestation Cooperative. While the family originally tent-camped in the forest, Jon realized that a house would make it easier to weather Oregon’s wet winters.
However, they still needed to stay mobile.
Jon met the challenge by using a travel trailer as the moveable foundation for a cozy yet
sturdy house on wheels.
“The tiny home gave us all the essentials: warmth, shelter, a clean place to sleep — but the forest around us became an extension of our living room,” says Jen. Today, Jen is Tru Form Tiny’s COO and co-owner, along with his wife, Malia Schultheis.
When Jen jumped into entrepreneurship, he brought along those childhood experiences and understandings: With quality materials and adaptable, creative design, a small space can feel expansive, and the home inside the walls can easily and almost seamlessly blend into the outdoors.
As a family-owned and operated premier tiny home builder, Tru Form Tiny carries that vision into every new house, backed by craftsmanship, expertise, and innovation.
“We’ve had an intimate relationship with small spaces, both living in them and building them,” says Malia. “I can bring in architectural elements and materials you’d usually only see in million-dollar homes. On a small scale, they become affordable.”
Ultimately, Tru Form Tiny prioritizes quality over quantity, in deeply personalized homes that never feel cookie-cutter.
“We want to be known for building the most beautiful, highest-quality tiny homes in the world — and for being the kindest, most honest people to work with in this industry,” Malia says. “We also hope to be remembered as a company that contributed real solutions to the housing crisis. That’s part of our long-term vision: to build more, help more, and continue evolving as a force for good in housing.”
For those starting their own business journey, Malia offers this advice: “Make sure it’s rooted in something you love — because that’s what will sustain you.”
Rep. Darin Harbick
Serial entrepreneur and lawmaker
At every turn, Springfield native and McKenzie River High School graduate Darin Harbick has looked for where he could fill a need in the Blue River and McKenzie Bridge communities. Along with Harbick’s Country Inn, that’s included a grocery store, restaurant, logging and trucking company, and a residential treatment home.
Especially with his wife, Kail, by his side, he was never afraid to hit the gas on an idea.
“My wife and I are both naturally wired to attempt things most people wouldn’t,” says Harbick, 56. “It makes for a wild ride.”
Many of Harbick’s ideas came during discussions while he and his wife drove to or from the Eugene/Springfield area.
“We used to make fast decisions, cannonball into an idea, and figure out how to make it work no matter what,” says Harbick. “Over time, as we’ve grown older, we’ve learned to seek wise counsel, pray, and ease in a bit slower than before.”
Harbick’s sense of mission also guided him into public service, including the McKenzie School District Board of Directors, plus showing up for local youth as a middle school, high school, and college-level girls basketball coach. Earlier this year, Harbick assumed office as the District 12 member of the Oregon House of Representatives.
No matter the endeavor, the community has come first — especially in the aftermath of the 2020 Holiday Farm Fire, which destroyed many homes and businesses and infrastructure throughout the McKenzie River area of eastern Lane Country.
“The next day we reopened our restaurant and fed the firefighters and volunteers,” says Harbick. Together with employees and their adult children, for 14 days they served three meals a day from a kitchen powered with generators and “without electricity, running on grit, grace, and a lot of caffeine.”
For Harbick, he saw the need, and he knew he could do his part to fill it. “We were there to help. That’s who we are: we show up, roll up our sleeves, because that’s what community is all about.”
A self-described man of faith, Harbick has aimed to love his family well and “carry that same heart into helping others,” he explains. “If I can be known for loving God and loving people, then I’d call that a pretty good legacy — even if I’m still a work in progress.”
For those starting their own business journey, Harbick offers this advice: “Don’t listen to the naysayers. There will always be more of them than supporters, especially in the beginning. Surround yourself with the two or three people who believe in you no matter what. If you truly believe in your idea, don’t have a Plan B. Go all in. And more than anything — pray.”
Katie Dewitt
eXp Realty, Reger Coaching and Coaching, Beauty Bar, Next Level Agents Podcast
541/621-6832
Katie Dewitt was 26 when opportunity knocked on her door in 2014.
“I was given the opportunity to lead a large corporation.”
That became a mentorship from successful business leaders, and a springboard when, in 2017, Dewitt opened her own real estate brokerage, while continuing in her service as CEO of a Eugene real estate brokerage.
“By 2020, I had the chance to take the stage nationally, speaking, teaching, and helping build a coaching company that grew quickly and made an impact across the industry,” adds Dewitt. Along with her work in eXp Realty, her private coaching at Reger Coaching and Coaching kept her actively engaged in real estate, while helping top-ranked agents nationwide grow their business while she grew hers.
“I’ve always been wired for entrepreneurship,” explains Dewitt. “My happy place is right in the middle of creating, researching, and talking to people about new ideas.”
Dewitt’s entrepreneurial journey has also included a salon and co-hosting the Next Level Agents podcast.
In real estate, she sees her mission as handling moving pieces, so clients can focus on what matters. And in coaching, she’s helped agents on the edge of burnout re-balance their lives and rediscover their purpose and drive.
“My strategy is all about abundance. The more you give to others, your time, your knowledge, your support, the more it circles back when you need it most,” says Dewitt. “Business isn’t just about building profits. It’s about building people. When you focus on lifting others up, you’ll always find yourself rising too.”
Hanna Scholz
Bike Friday
Bicycles have been part of Hanna Scholz’s life for as long as she can remember. And not just bikes, but bikes in progress. Her father and uncle founded Bike Friday. For over 30 years, they’ve continued as the Eugene business’s creators, inventors, designers, builders, and innovators.
“They designed a custom-built bicycle that fits in a checkable suitcase, and it was the first in the world, along with the first tandem bicycle that fits in two suitcases, the first tandem that folds up. There’s a list of first-evers,” says Scholz. “I don’t have those talents. My skills are more in telling stories, communicating with people, and maintaining relationships, creating systems, managing systems.”
Now president of Bike Friday, Scholz balances values of sustainability, creativity, and the ever-innovating spirits of her dad and uncle, with a pragmatic business sense.
Scholz’s leadership guides Bike Friday through a different stage. While innovation never stops, she looks to where they can simplify and streamline Bike Friday’s offerings, both to support original customers — many of who still have Bike Friday rides that are over 20 years old — along with new customers, a global network of dealers, and easier customer support, parts supply, and service.
“We had so many different frame styles, configurations, options. It can be overwhelming, especially for customer service trying to learn and maintain that over decades,” Scholz says. “I’ve been in the position to say we don’t need another bike right now. We sometimes need to simplify and optimize.”
Despite challenges from contractions in the overall U.S. bike market, overseas manufacturers, and a domestic culture that tends to focus on mountain biking and racing, Bike Friday continues to make their bikes in Eugene, with custom designs and framing to meet a range of ride needs and body types.
That focus on tailoring the ride to the rider not only gives Bike Friday a consistent niche in the bike world. It means they often fill a need that no one else will.
“We’ve tailored frames for people with dwarfism and a 16-inch inseam,” says Scholz. “We do a really good job of fitting the small end of the spectrum and the tall. Mass produced doesn’t fit everybody.”
That focus on service, a balance of standards and innovation, and building the bike to the rider also stems from Scholz’s guiding strategic sense of service-first, not growth.
“Our core values come from a love of the lifestyle around the bicycle,” she says, “and from having a positive impact on customers, employees making a living, and the community for having the business here and the product being used.”
For those starting their own business journey, Scholz offers this advice: “It will change you. You’ll have sleepless nights, exhausting moments, and you better be clear on what’s motivating you to get up, go at it, and keep solving the next problem. You can’t be doing it just for an end result, like a chunk of money or notoriety. There’s a quality it brings to your life that makes it all worth it.”
A land of leaders
From Florence to Belknap Springs, Junction City to Cottage Grove, and points between and beyond, Lane County is a land of leaders. They work in nonprofits, businesses, and public service. Some flourished where they were planted. Others chose their home, then set out to be part of their community and improve the place they call special.
Local entrepreneurs seek not only to build strong businesses, but a better community.
