Veterans come to the private-sector workforce with a lot to offer, including advanced training in specialized fields such as logistics, security, information technology, personnel management and administration. They understand the complexities of doing business with the U.S. government and the importance of following instructions and protocol.
Veterans have a mission-driven mind-set and work well under pressure. They appreciate the need for teamwork and leadership. Continue reading
By Finance New Mexico; photo courtesy newfarmers.usda.gov
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is making it easier for New Mexicans to take up — or continue — farming in a state that’s famous for its chile and other commercial crops but also produces specialty items derived from agricultural products.
Direct Farm Ownership Microloans, which help agricultural entrepreneurs buy and improve farmland and farm buildings and finance other related capital-intensive activities, are especially helpful to beginning and underserved farmers, veterans and those just embarking on a farming career. Continue reading
By Stephen S. Hamilton, attorney and mediator, Montgomery & Andrews, P.A.
Mediation can save disputing parties time and money, which makes it an increasingly popular — and sometimes mandatory — form of conflict resolution for businesses and individuals involved in civil litigation. In a mediation or settlement conference, a neutral negotiator tries to help adversaries reach a mutually acceptable agreement.
Mediation is relatively new in the U.S., but its success has prompted many New Mexico courts to require that parties try to reach pretrial accords.
Why Mediation?
Mediation reduces the expense of settling a conflict and increases the likelihood that parties will quickly reach a satisfactory outcome. Continue reading
By Kathy Keith, Director, Los Alamos National Laboratory Community Relations and Partnerships Office
After a successful trial run of its new arts and farmers market last October, Eight Northern Indian Pueblos Council Inc. (ENIPC) solidified plans to make the markets a weekly event each Saturday this year from July 9 through the Columbus Day weekend. To maximize the economic benefits to market vendors — Native and non-Native farmers and artists from Northern New Mexico ENIPC — knew it needed to expand marketing to reach potential customers during the busy tourist season.
So ENIPC applied for — and received — funding from the Native American Venture Acceleration Fund (NAVAF), a pool of money distributed by Los Alamos National Security, LLC, and the Regional Development Corporation to help Native enterprises create jobs, increase their revenue base and diversify the Northern New Mexico economy. Continue reading
By Justin Hyde, New Mexico Market Manager, Accion
Nico Ortiz needed money in 2001 after exhausting the startup capital that helped him launch Turtle Mountain Brewing Company in Rio Rancho two years earlier. But without a five-year track record, he said, “no lender would touch me.”
Loan officers suggested Accion New Mexico, and there Ortiz’s luck changed. “It wasn’t a big loan,” he said. “Maybe $20,000. But it enabled me to get over the hump” and sustain the business until its fifth birthday, when traditional lenders were willing to lend. Today the company employs nearly three times as many people as it did in 1999, and its gross revenue has quadrupled.
“Accion is critical, because the (business) failure rate for zero to five years — especially for restaurants — is ginormous,” Ortiz said. “They help fine companies survive.” Continue reading
By Sandy Nelson, Team Member, Finance New Mexico project
Small businesses that lack the bloated advertising budgets of their larger competitors can raise their profile with some old-school public relations techniques. Before launching a PR campaign, however, they should understand that PR is different from advertising.
When a business advertises, it pays to place its message on a highly visible medium — a newspaper, magazine, Internet website or billboard — or it pays for airtime on radio or television. It has complete control over the message, as long as the content doesn’t violate industry standards.
By contrast, the public relations approach aims to generate positive news coverage about the business by presenting newsworthy material to a media outlet in hopes an editor will reprint the press release as written or assign a reporter to write an original piece. Continue reading
By Claudia Infante
Counterfeit products — from pharmaceuticals to steel parts to electronics — proliferate in the global economy, posing enormous risks to businesses and consumers.
Manufacturers lose big when warrantied products fail because of phony components, especially if injuries and fatalities result. The Federal Bureau of Investigation estimates that counterfeit parts in consumer and industrial products cost U.S. businesses more than $250 billion annually.
When counterfeit parts infiltrate the government supply chain, the cost falls on taxpayers. Counterfeit electronic products alone cost contractors and the federal government billions of dollars every year. Continue reading
By Julianna Silva, Marketing Director and Managing Director, WESST Enterprise Center
Artists, artisans, designers and other “creatives” don’t need an M.B.A. to make a living from their artistic talents, but attaining some fluency in the language of business and finance gives them more control over a creative career.
To that end, WESST and ArtSpark, two New Mexico organizations dedicated to business development and entrepreneurship, are co-sponsoring an immersive, interactive “Business Canvas Workshop for Creatives.” The training will help arts-oriented professionals fashion an uncomplicated and useful blueprint for their chosen vocation.
By Finance New Mexico
Lemitar is pretty far from the Pacific, but Tim Ott and Abigail “Judy” Armendariz are growing shrimp native to that ocean in a climate-controlled aquaculture plant just north of Socorro.
Their company, Southwestern Seas LLC, has been selling New Mexico-farmed white Pacific shrimp at the Santa Fe Farmers Market for about a year.
The business partners in late November received a $49,500 value-added producer grant from USDA that they plan to use to market their unconventional “crop” to other farmers markets around the state and thus increase sales. Continue reading
By Finance New Mexico
Editor’s Note: This article was updated March 21, 2018.
Business people who want to develop property in economically depressed New Mexico communities — or who want to purchase expensive commercial equipment or secure working capital for use in those communities — often lack the funding they need for such ambitious and capital-intensive ventures.
That’s why the New Mexico Finance Authority created a community development entity, or CDE, in 2006 to raise capital and fill funding gaps for large projects expected to benefit low-income areas.
To be eligible for CDE funding, a project must be in a neighborhood or tract considered low-income in the most recent census. Continue reading