Facility Tours Highlight New Mexico Manufacturers

Claudia Serrano

By Claudia Serrano, Projects Coordinator, New Mexico MEP

The New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership will celebrate the state’s manufacturers on Oct. 4 by leading facility tours in Deming, Albuquerque and Farmington.

Manufacturing Day in New Mexico is part of an effort by MEP organizations nationwide to show the American public that many products are still proudly and efficiently “made in the U.S.A.”

Local legislators, their field agents, customers, vendors and members of the general public are expected to spend the day visiting several New Mexico businesses that fabricate products used in major domestic industries.  Continue reading

Economic Gardening Cultivates Growing Albuquerque Business

By Dr. Beverlee J. McClure, president and CEO, Association of Commerce and Industry

By Dr. Beverlee J. McClure, president and CEO, Association of Commerce and Industry

RIEtech Global had reached a transitional stage with its high-precision motion control products when the Albuquerque company was chosen in 2012 to participate in a pilot program designed to help successful companies expand their reach and refine their business models for the next stage of growth.

The pilot program, called Economic Gardening and sponsored by the Association of Commerce and Industry, PNM and Lovelace Health System, was created by Chris Gibbons in Littleton, Colorado. The Edward Lowe Foundation scaled the program to be applied nationally. The program takes an intensive, interventionist approach to economic development by helping second-stage growth companies enhance job and revenue growth. This is different than focusing on startups or recruiting outside businesses.

Continue reading

Collateral Support Program Helps New Mexico Businesses Leverage Loans

By Finance New Mexico with assistance from the New Mexico Finance Authority

Editors Note: This program, now known as the Collateral Assistance Program (CAP), is now administered by the New Mexico Economic Development Department Borrowers must access the program through their local lender.

US_Treasury_07110005In 2011, New Mexico was authorized to receive $13.1 million from the U.S. Treasury Department as part of the State Small Business Credit Initiative — a product of the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010.

The funds are channeled to the Collateral Support Participation program administered by the New Mexico Finance Authority in collaboration with the New Mexico Economic Development Department. The program helps creditworthy small businesses leverage private lending when they can’t obtain the capital required to expand and create jobs. Continue reading

Expert Advice as Precious as Cash for New Businesses

By Matt Loehman, The Loan Fund

By Matt Loehman, The Loan Fund

Starting a business takes guts, but it also takes money. Obtaining that startup capital is one of the biggest challenges facing aspiring entrepreneurs.

Some may find it easy to secure credit: They’re typically the ones with good collateral, a high credit score and a fully developed business plan. But that’s not the case for many small business owners in New Mexico who find it challenging to access credit through traditional sources.

Small business owners who do have difficulty accessing credit from traditional lending sources can contact a community development lender, which is typically more than just a place to go when the banks say “no”. Continue reading

Digital Book Publisher One of Nine Venture Acceleration Fund Award Recipients

By Kurt Steinhaus, Director of Community Programs, Los Alamos National Laboratory

By Kurt Steinhaus, director of the Community Programs Office at Los Alamos National Laboratory

Customizabooks, a digital publisher of children’s books, is one of nine New Mexico businesses to receive a total of $340,000 in Venture Acceleration Fund awards from Los Alamos National Security LLC and Los Alamos County.

The Rio Rancho company plans to use its $50,000 award to expand distribution channels for its digital book applications, which create electronic books and convert existing books into digital content that’s accessible on all major mobile platforms, according to founder Tom Anderson, who manages the company with his brother, Bill.

The money also will help the Andersons finish developing their latest product, the Blackfish Story Creator, which allows people to create and share their own digital stories.

What makes Customizabooks different than other e-books, Anderson said, is its high level of interactivity, functionality and customization Continue reading

Coworkers by Choice: Shared Workspaces Draw Solo Entrepreneurs

By Finance New Mexico

CoworkingThe dramatic increase in freelancers, especially technology industry soloists, is driving a new trend called “coworking” — the sharing of workspace on the basis of a desire for community that its proponents see as a basic human need.

“Never before have we been so isolated,” Convivium Coworking’s Deborah Reese said of the growing army of solo entrepreneurs and self-employed people who populate the U.S. work force — either because the recession undermined their faith in working for others or because the internet and other mobile technology freed them to work anywhere they wanted.

Continue reading

Access to Capital Unites State’s Entrepreneurs

Russell Cummins

By Russ Cummins, executive director, New Mexico Small Business Investment Corporation

On the surface, Albuquerque’s Clínica la Esperanza, a medical clinic, has little in common with Desert Aire Copy & Fax Services, a convenience store and copy center that serves residents of the isolated border colonia of Chaparral. And it apparently has nothing in common with SSC Construction, a Native American-owned construction company based in San Felipe Pueblo that builds homes on tribal lands throughout New Mexico.

Yet all of these businesses got an early boost with loan funds that originated with the New Mexico Small Business Investment Corporation (NMSBIC) and were channeled through its network of lenders.

Continue reading

Hire Power: Laws Set Path for Employment Relationship

Joy J. Forehand, MPA, deputy secretary of the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions

Contributor Joy J. Forehand, MPA, deputy secretary of the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions

By Finance New Mexico with assistance from Joy J. Forehand, MPA, deputy secretary of the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions

A business owner might find the paperwork involved in hiring an employee to be intimidating, which is why many delegate those duties to a payroll service if they have enough workers to make the expenditure worthwhile.

According to Joy J. Forehand, deputy secretary of the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions, “entrepreneurs who do not outsource their payroll to an outside firm and choose to do it on their own need to know what state and federal laws apply to the employer-employee relationship.”

Continue reading

MEP to Showcase Products Made in New Mexico

Claudia Serrano

By Claudia Serrano, Projects Coordinator, New Mexico MEP

The New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership is taking the “buy local” concept to a broader level with its New Mexico Made program.

The initiative aims to promote the companies that create and fabricate goods in New Mexico, where manufacturing is a $5.9 billion industry representing 7.4 percent of the total gross state product, according to the National Association of Manufacturers.

It does so by certifying qualifying businesses on the New Mexico Made website directory, raising the profile of the state’s manufacturers and giving participating businesses access to promotions and networking opportunities. Continue reading

Starting a Business Means Getting All the Right Permissions

Permit Required

By Finance New Mexico

Everyone who starts a business in New Mexico expects to fill out lots of forms. Besides the application for a Combined Reporting System, or CRS, the business owner might need special permits to handle food or alcohol sales or to operate in specific industries.

But other permissions are required for a range of business activities that might not be as obvious. And it’s the duty of the business owner to know what they are. Continue reading