New Program Offers Loans to Cannabis Businesses

Until cannabis is legalized by the U.S. federal government, cannabis businesses have limited banking and loan options. But access to capital in New Mexico has improved since legislators authorized the New Mexico Finance Authority to offer microloans of up to $250,000 to small businesses engaged in the sale or production of cannabis.

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Grants for Tribal Businesses

The Regional Development Corporation is offering grants of up to $8,000 to businesses that are 51 percent or more owned by a Northern New Mexico tribal member to grow, diversify revenue, leverage other investments, create new jobs, and put systems in place that lead to growth.

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State Lowers GRT Rate

The gross receipts tax rate was decreased by .125 percent by the State of New Mexico effective July 1, 2022. The decrease affects every business and purchaser in the state. Often thought of as a sales tax, GRT is slightly different because it applies to the sale of services, as well as tangible items.

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What is an Entrepreneur?

According to Lorena Schott, entrepreneurs pop up in all types of industries and can have widely different backgrounds. “Really anyone can be an entrepreneur, given the idea and the right tools to develop it into a functional business,” she said.

Schott should know. The director of marketing communications at WESST has met thousands of entrepreneurs since joining the business development organization in 2009. WESST is a nonprofit organization that offers business consulting, workshops, financial resources, business incubation, and support to help entrepreneurs start and grow a business.

“An entrepreneur is someone who sees a need and takes on the financial risk to start a business to fill that need,” she said in a WESST blog post. “It may sound vague, but that’s the point; there is no cookie-cutter entrepreneur…”

Schott contrasts the ‘classic’ entrepreneur — someone who creates a business like a new restaurant or a tech start-up — with today’s entrepreneurs. “There has been a shift in the global job market that has opened the door for entrepreneurship to become more mainstream,” she said.

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