By Ron Burke, Center Director, New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership

When the 2000 Viveash Fire burned through 17 million board feet of timber on his family’s homestead above Pecos, David Old drew on his experience as a sawmill owner-operator to make the best of overwhelming misfortune.

The company David Old built from the ashes of his family’s fire-damaged forest is now a top-drawer manufacturer and global exporter of fine wood floors made from reclaimed wood harvested from private and public lands using environmentally sound forest-management standards.

Sheer grit and entrepreneurial flexibility helped Old and his family-owned enterprise transform crisis into opportunity. In recent years, the Las Vegas, N.M.-based venture welcomed technical and training assistance from the New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership, a nonprofit organization Continue reading →

By Tom Aageson, Executive Director, Global Center for Cultural Entrepreneurship

New Mexico is home to the first U.S. startup accelerator aimed at entrepreneurs in the Creative Industries. That Albuquerque-based business, Creative-Startups <www.Creative-Startups.org>, is accepting applications through the end of August for its inaugural class of startup candidates. Acceptance into the accelerator includes six online classes modeled after the Stanford University curriculum and a five-day “deep dive” with mentors.

The new accelerator aims to bring business sensibilities and savvy into fields dominated by “creatives,” including the fields of advertising, architecture, crafts, design (fashion, graphic, product), film, music, the performing arts, photography, publishing, games and apps creation, television and radio.

Taken as a whole, these sectors of the economy are among the most vibrant, judging by a 2013 United Nations report, Continue reading →

By Lawrence O. Maxwell, State Purchasing Agent and Director, New Mexico General Services Department

To serve the people of New Mexico, state government relies on goods and services provided by private-sector businesses. To ensure it spends taxpayer dollars responsibly and gets the best products at the best price, the state uses a competitive purchasing system.

Thousands of businesses each year participate in this $5 billion economy, selling the state everything from cars, trucks, pencils and supercomputers to support services for crime victims, architectural services and museum exhibits.

These businesses all start by learning how to navigate the procurement system — a set of procedures designed to protect public resources. The process isn’t complicated, but it can take time. Continue reading →

By Finance New Mexico

At Dapwood Furniture, artisans craft tables and bed frames using wood grown and harvested from American forests that are certified as sustainable by the Forest Stewardship Council. An Albuquerque charity gets leftover wood to use in projects that benefit people in need, and some goes to people who rely on wood for winter heating.

The company hopes to convert its smaller byproducts — sawdust and shavings — into useful products, such as biochar — a type of charcoal used to improve soil and plant health.

Every aspect of the business, in fact, is seen through the prism of sustainability and social responsibility. Continue reading →

By Finance New Mexico

Angela Atencio-Sanchez grew up busing tables at her parents’ restaurant on State Route 76 in Española, and she was promoted to working the cash register before going off to college and a career as an assistant comptroller for Santa Fe Public Schools.

Today the daughter of El Paragua Restaurant founders Luis and Frances Atencio is the president of Las Brazas Enterprises — a company that owns and manages El Paragua and El Parasol restaurant in Española. The business was just named this year’s Family Owned Small Business of the Year by the Small Business Administration in New Mexico. Continue reading →

By Claudia Serrano, Projects Coordinator, New Mexico MEP

When Karen Converse of the New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership met André and Keith West-Harrison, the Albuquerque men were manufacturing skin- and body-care products and marketing them to spas and salons from the garage of their Albuquerque townhome.

The self-described “chefs” used a KitchenAid mixer to blend their specialty natural and organic lotions, bath salts and balms. They then packaged and labeled the products for sale under their clients’ brand names.

When demand for their private-label products outgrew the pair’s minimalist operation, they contacted New Mexico MEP for help raising their production processes to match the business’s sophisticated marketing profile. Continue reading →

By Kathy Keith, Executive Director, Regional Development Corporation

Entrepreneurs who seek a “temporary, mutually beneficial relationship” with a scientist or engineer might get lucky at a new and innovative style of event that aims to stimulate potentially productive hookups.  The May 14 event, called “The Eureka Effect,” is sponsored by the New Mexico Small Business Assistance (NMSBA) program, the Santa Fe Business Incubator (SFBI) and Los Alamos Connect, the principal economic development investment by Los Alamos National Security, LLC and Los Alamos National Laboratory, administered by the Regional Development Corporation.

The sponsors liken the event to “speed dating, only smarter.” They hope to match LANL scientists and engineers with entrepreneurs who need free technical or scientific assistance to solve their technical challenges. Continue reading →

By Finance New Mexico

When Allan Sindelar joined the Santa Fe Business Incubator in 1998, both his company — Positive Energy Solar — and the incubator were in their infancy.

Sindelar had previously made his living as a freelance carpenter and had several years’ experience designing and installing solar electrical systems. He had no background in starting and running a business.

The incubator, meanwhile, had just opened in a 10,000-square-foot building with barely enough room for eight or nine tenant businesses. Continue reading →