St. Louis Employee Ownership Initiative
Owning Our Future:
Growing Employee Ownership in St. Louis
When employees have a meaningful ownership stake and a voice in decision-making, businesses can become engines of shared wealth. Business owners can plan for succession while protecting their legacy.
The region can retain jobs and keep wealth rooted locally.
“About 70% of business owners across the St. Louis region
are at or nearing retirement,
but only about 25% have concrete [transition] plans.”
-St. Louis Public Radio, 2022
Launched in 2026, the St. Louis Employee Ownership Initiative—powered by MOCEO and WEPOWER—is building a coordinated regional ecosystem to expand employee ownership and governance. Its first focus is business conversions: helping more succession-ready businesses explore pathways to become employee-owned.
Employee-owned businesses are more likely to survive recessions.
Median wage income is 33% higher at employee-owned firms (Project Equity 2023).
Median household net worth is 92% higher for employee owners overall (Wiefek 2017).
Through this growing initiative, partners work to:
• Build awareness and lead outreach efforts
• Educate business owners preparing for succession
• Identify promising St. Louis-rooted companies
• Connect companies to financing and technical assistance
• Strengthen the local ecosystem needed to sustain employee ownership
• Grow regional awareness of employee ownership as a tool for transformational
• Economic development and workforce development
Owning Our Future Business Luncheon
July 23, 2026
Join MOCEO, WEPOWER, and the Koch Center for Family Enterprise for a business luncheon
focused on employee ownership, succession,
and the future of locally rooted businesses in St. Louis.
