Entrepreneurs and hobbyists interested in exploring the potential for starting or growing a business in the outdoor recreation industry have two new resources.
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Relationships Energize New Mexico MEP Resources
When tech innovator Dave Keicher requested marketing and sales growth services from New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership (New Mexico MEP), the nonprofit organization saw it as an opportunity to experiment. New Mexico MEP helps manufacturers increase their competitiveness and profitability by improving processes.
Keicher is vice president of Integrated Deposition Solutions (IDS), whose founder Marcelino Essien patented an aerosol printing technology that IDS calls NanoJet. Keicher helped develop the technology at Sandia National Laboratories and was an early investor in IDS.
The request from Keicher revealed a gap in the services that New Mexico MEP typically provides. Rather than relying strictly on its own Innovation Directors, New Mexico MEP contracted with “resource partners” to supplement its services.
Continue readingWESST Launches HOPE Loan Fund
Economic developers believe a key contributor to economic inequality in the United States is the large and persistent racial and ethnic disparity found in business ownership and performance. Barriers to accessing capital that particularly impact Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) entrepreneurs include lack of initial wealth, financial literacy, education, and managerial experience. To address racial and income inequities, WESST launched the HOPE Fund (Helping Open Possibilities for Everyone), a “no barriers to accessing capital” approach for people of color and low-wealth New Mexicans.
Continue readingAccelerator Program Summer Cohort Forming
Libraries as Launchpads, a virtual business accelerator program, has announced that applications for its summer cohort will be accepted until June 20, 2021. The 5-week program begins June 28.
Continue readingRestaurants Slow to Take Pandemic GRT Deduction
According to the New Mexico Restaurant Association, only 500 restaurants in the state have taken advantage of the Gross Receipts Tax Deduction/Rebate that was authorized by the state legislature to aid pandemic-impacted New Mexico restaurants.
Senate Bill 1, passed during the 2021 legislative session, allows restaurants to keep as a tax deduction the gross receipts tax charged for sales of prepared food and drinks made after March 1, 2021 and before July 1, 2021. Fast-food restaurants are not eligible, however, mobile and food truck businesses can take the deduction.
Continue readingNew Grant Program Opens for Hispanic-owned Food Businesses
A new limited-time grant program will offer $10,000 grants to small Hispanic-owned food and beverage businesses in Albuquerque. The program comes from the PepsiCo Foundation, which is relying on Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), such as LiftFund and DreamSpring, to ensure that grants reach 10 – 15 Hispanic-owned businesses in each of the 13 targeted U.S. cities. Besides Albuquerque, grants will be offered in Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, El Paso, Chicago, Miami, Denver, New York City, Orlando, Phoenix, and Las Vegas.
Continue readingBusiness Finance Fair Will Provide Resource Overview
The New Mexico Economic Development Department is hosting a Business Finance Fair on June 9 from 12:00 to 2:00 pm for businesses located in the southeastern region of the state. The event, which will be conducted online, will provide an overview of the many financial resources available to New Mexico businesses. Event organizers aim to connect business owners with resources that can help them grow their enterprises.
Continue readingWESST a ‘Touchstone’ for Therapy Clinic Partners
Two months after COVID-related emergency orders shuttered the clinic that employed them, Melissa Esquibel and three colleagues launched Sandia Sunrise Therapy LLC to provide vital physical and occupational therapy services.
“Starting the business in the middle of a pandemic was definitely challenging,” clinic administrator Melissa Esquibel said. “We all worked very closely together (at the clinic that closed in March 2020). Keeping that connection was very important to us as we started the new business.”
Esquibel’s co-founders Teresa Ziomek and Oksana Tretiak practice occupational therapy, and Dr. Heather Armijo provides physical therapy. While all four women contributed to the business’s formation, Esquibel credits Ziomek with organizing the team and Tretiak with contacting business-development nonprofit WESST to help with the team’s strategic plan and other critical startup groundwork.
Before meeting with WESST, the four had written a business plan. “We drafted our goals, did our analysis on the market and the services we were going to provide,” Esquibel said. This laid the groundwork for their work with WESST, which has been offering its services at no cost during the pandemic.
Continue readingNew Program Launched to Help Native-led Businesses
The Indian Pueblo Cultural Center and Creative Startups are collaborating to accelerate entrepreneurship among Native American businesses. The collaboration is delivering a pre-accelerator virtual incubator program, along with information about financial and other resources designed specifically to meet the needs of Native-led businesses.
Continue readingLEDA Grant Program Now Open
The LEDA Recovery Grant Program was created by the State of New Mexico in the 2021 Legislative Session by House Bill 11 to provide $200 million in grant funding to New Mexico small businesses and nonprofit organizations that are experiencing financial hardship due to the pandemic. Applications will be accepted until June 15, 2021.
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