Several upcoming programs are designed to help innovators and entrepreneurs get new products to market.
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DreamSpring Commits to Expanded Lending
The nonprofit lender DreamSpring has embarked on a 5-year plan to escalate its annual impact ten-fold over the organization’s 2019 lending levels by increasing its focus on entrepreneurs of color, low- and moderate-income entrepreneurs, people with disabilities, and other groups that are often underserved or marginalized.
Continue readingGrant Refresh for Sandoval County Businesses
The Sandoval County Board of Commissioners has added money to its CARES Grant pandemic relief program — now referred to as ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) — that was offered to local businesses last year. Pandemic-impacted businesses located in Sandoval County, including the City of Rio Rancho, towns of Bernalillo and Cuba, and Village of Corrales, may apply for a grant of up to $20,000.
Continue readingGrants Offered for Global Expansion
The U.S. Small Business Administration State Trade Expansion Program (STEP) helps small businesses expand by increasing their revenue through global trade. Business owners interested in exporting their products can apply to the New Mexico Economic Development Department Office of International Trade (OIT) for assistance with strategies designed to increase small business exports. The OIT also makes available grant funds from SBA STEP for expenses such as tradeshow booth fees, trade missions, and other export-related activities.
Continue readingFood Trucks: New Path to Entrepreneurship
Kayla Vallejos has been cooking since she was 13 so it was only a matter of time before she would own a food operation.
Vallejos, the proud owner of Albuquerque-based Taste of Love food truck that launched in the spring of 2021, got her start working at Burger King and then moved on to waitressing and bartending. Along the way, her dream was to work in a kitchen, but she lacked the formal experience necessary to be hired by a restaurant. That was until the owners of a restaurant in her home state of New Jersey allowed her to cook for their patrons.
“A lot of places wouldn’t hire me because I was a woman and I didn’t have a formal background in cooking,” Vallejos said. The restaurant is “where I learned mostly everything, especially making homemade stuff.”
Continue readingBuilding a Scalable Venture in New Mexico?
ActivateNM powered by CNM Ingenuity offers “office hours” for New Mexico startups and small businesses. Office Hours are a facilitated regular gathering of the growing ActivateNM community of entrepreneurs and mentors who get together to talk about pressing business questions their ventures are facing. The next monthly meeting will take place online on August 20.
Continue readingInvention-Con Delivers Patent Information
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is sponsoring a free online convention to help entrepreneurs capitalize on their intellectual property. Invention-Con takes place online from August 18 through 20.
Participants will hear from business and government experts about turning ideas into innovations, protecting work, and accessing valuable resources. Keynote speakers Serene Almomen, CEO of Senseware, and recording artist Ansel Brown will share their insights on science, technological innovation, music, and business.
Continue readingIncrease Sales in the New Economy
A steady stream of sales is crucial to sustaining or growing a business. How do you increase sales in an economy where consumer buying styles have changed?
Join WESST online from 11:30 am to 1:00 pm on Tuesday, Aug. 17 for the first of four sessions to learn how to engage customers with a new approach to selling that increases revenue and eliminates pressure from the buying process.
Continue readingVelarde Winery Cuts Costs with Help from New Mexico MEP
When the coronavirus pandemic temporarily halted tourist traffic and shuttered restaurants and bars throughout New Mexico, Black Mesa Winery in Velarde had an inventory of wine and hard cider worth $100,000 and fewer avenues to deliver its products to customers. Winery owners Jerry and Lynda Burd were able to keep products moving out the door through online wine tasting events, shipments to wine club members, and creative drive-by tours that kept customers engaged.
The slowdown also gave the Burds time to examine all aspects of their operation and to consider changes that could streamline processes, open new markets, and increase market share when the pandemic ended.
The Burds sought help from New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership (New Mexico MEP), a nonprofit organization that helps businesses transform their operations to improve production, competitiveness, and profitability. New Mexico MEP Innovation Director Scott Bryant worked with the couple and their 12 employees to help them evaluate the entire production line.
Continue readingDreamSpring Has Record Year
Small businesses that were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic were the greatest beneficiaries of services provided by the nonprofit lender DreamSpring in 2020.
When the pandemic hit early in 2020, DreamSpring quickly adapted to a fully remote work model and pivoted from business-as-usual to providing economic triage alongside an array of partners, which included community-based organizations, banks, federal and local government agencies, philanthropies, individual donors, and existing clients. DreamSpring’s ability to serve as economic first responders to the smallest, most vulnerable businesses in the crisis by providing access to Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funds and other resources was crucial to keeping thousands of businesses afloat.
The results are impressive.
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