Get Advice from Small Business Lender LiftFund

The nonprofit small-business lender LiftFund is offering workshops to help entrepreneurs make crucial decisions ranging from whether to start a new business to how to price their products. Most workshops are conducted online, and many orient toward a specific geographical location such as Dona Ana County.

Continue reading

EDD Launches New Technical Assistance Program

The New Mexico Economic Development Department (EDD) is launching a new initiative aimed at assisting small, disadvantaged businesses with technical assistance so they can better succeed. HatchForm LLC, WESST, and UNM Anderson are the initial providers for this program.

Continue reading

IP For Artists – (and Businesses)

Business owners interested in learning how to protect their creations should attend WESST’s Intellectual Property workshop at 6:00 pm on June 12 in Bernalillo. The workshop is geared toward artists, however, all business owners will find the information can help them protect their logo and product packaging designs.

Continue reading

Creative Businesses Should Attend Creative Industries Week

Creative Industries Week, which takes place online June 3 through 9, aims to connect entrepreneurs, business owners, and community groups working in creative industries with resources to help them grow. The event is co-produced by the New Mexico Economic Development Department and Creative Startups, a nonprofit organization that provides assistance to businesses in creative industries.

Continue reading

Ready to Start a Brewery? Apply to BrewerySprint

New Mexico State University Arrowhead Center is offering a FREE business support program to existing and aspiring brewers, distillers, and winemakers in New Mexico called BreweySprint. This 6-week business support program features a curriculum designed to support participants in developing and strengthening their businesses through guided exploration of the Business Model Canvas.

Continue reading

RCAC Goes Beyond Small Business Loans

Rural Community Assistance Corporation, the nonprofit organization known as RCAC, offers small business loans to help businesses retain or create jobs and thus improve the economic condition of rural communities. Its Building Rural Economies Small Business Coaching team goes a step further by providing no-cost direct technical assistance to rural entrepreneurs and small businesses to launch or re-launch their business; operate, sustain, and grow their business; secure access to financing; and build networks.

Continue reading

WESST Named NM Microlender of the Year

The small business development organization WESST was named the 2024 Small Business Administration’s New Mexico Microlender of the Year. The award was bestowed on May 1, 2024 at the SBA New Mexico Small Business Awards Breakfast. The SBA celebrates National Small Business Week by honoring outstanding entrepreneurs and resource providers while putting a spotlight on the people who run the 33 million small businesses in the country.

Continue reading

WESST Helps Clients Help Others

Brenda Ramos Almeida helped her husband start J&B Gardens while working full time as an office manager for another contractor. In 2019, she turned to WESST, a nonprofit business development organization, for one-on-one counseling and workshops to help her manage the Northern New Mexico landscaping business as she maintained the company’s books. It wasn’t long before she spotted a need and decided to start a service to assist others with bookkeeping and acquiring permits and applications for their own small businesses.

Libelula Financial focuses on the Spanish-speaking small business community. Being bilingual, Ramos Almeida knew she could provide customers with the highest quality of service in both Spanish and English, offering bookkeeping and general business assistance.

Continue reading