Building a Rainforest in the Desert | May 2024

The U.S. Department of Energy has selected a local startup to be awarded $20 million to advance their clean hydrogen energy production. The startup, Pajarito Powder, is working to develop and commercialize advanced electrocatalysts for electrolyzers and fuel cells and this grant will help their manufacturing process become more energy and water efficient.

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The entrepreneurial ecosystem in Albuquerque and New Mexico is expanding dramatically with major strides recently unfolding.

Entrepreneurship benefits everyone in the state, because young businesses create nearly all of the nation’s net job growth. Research also shows that entrepreneurship greatly reduces the poverty rate: for every 1% increase in the entrepreneurship rate, the poverty rate decreases by 2%.

A major focal point of entrepreneurship in New Mexico is InnovateABQ, the 7-acre innovation site located on Central Avenue midway between Downtown Albuquerque and the University of New Mexico.

The site is anchored by the Lobo Rainforest Building, a six-story mixed-use facility with more than 100,000 square feet of space. The entire complex is designed to bring together entrepreneurs and their emerging businesses and spark interactions that are catalytic.

The evolving landscape of entrepreneurship is, like New Mexico itself, breathtaking, and there are recent major developments unfolding.

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Open to university students, faculty, staff, entrepreneurs, and the community, the Lobo Hackathon took place on April 11 and 12 at the Lobo Rainforest Building where a staggering 16 teams formed to fast-track and collaborate on developing their ideas.

For two days, teams worked diligently to refine and develop their ideas that addressed a problem, utilized a technology, or created something entirely new. This year’s event also provided a 3D printing lab for prototype development along with the support of dedicated mentors that offered advice and assistance.

See list of awardees

Southwest Native Assets Coalition Success Story

In this episode, learn about the Southwest Native Assets Coalition's recent successes in expanding their financial literacy training and credit counseling for rural and tribal communities.

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Overcoming Domestic Violence for a Better Future

In this candid conversation, Mytegia sheds light on some very real barriers that exist for many individuals, impacting their ability to start and grow a business.

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Mytegia Lee is the Executive Director of the Southwest Native Assets Coalition (SNAC) and a Tribal Liaison as part of the New Mexico Tribal Entrepreneurship Enhancement Program. Prior to joining SNAC she worked in the commercial banking and financing services industry providing credit analysis, financial education as well as small dollar loan origination and servicing throughout western New Mexico. Her diligence, attention to detail, commitment to customer service reflect her sincere interest in helping rural households secure optimal economic outcomes. Prior to working in the financial services industry, Ms. Lee worked as a social services liaison for the Eastern Agency of the Navajo Nation providing community members access to burial assistance, low-income home energy assistance, and other emergency funding. Ms. Lee is bi-lingual, a skilled silversmith and rancher and mother of three. Ms. Lee is from the community of Manuelito and is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation.

Heather Gomez, a tribal liaison for the New Mexico Tribal Entrepreneurship Enhancement Program (NMTEEP), has graduated from Embark, a national accelerator program hosted by Founded Outdoors and REI Path Ahead Ventures. Her business, Dulce Base Tipi, is a tipi destination in Northern New Mexico on the Jicarilla Apache Nation reservation.

As part of the program, participating companies received a $10,000 equity-free grant to kickstart their business and founders were connected with a community of peers and mentors to support their growth and development. Learn about the Embark Program here: https://foundedoutdoors.com/embark

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Do you need some advice with marketing or help telling your business story?

Attend one-on-one mentoring with marketing professional, Chaz Rose. During this 30-minute session, you can talk with Chaz about some of your marketing pain points and receive advice on how to improve your marketing and tell your business story!

Chaz Rose is the founder of Towa Marketing Consultants. He graduated from Missouri State in 2016 with a degree in Marketing & Advertising. He works with business owners to develop custom marketing strategies for their business. These strategies relieve business pains, provide measurable advertising results, and increase business owners' bottom line. Sign up today to receive help with creating your business marketing strategy.

This is a HYBRID event offered in-person at the Lobo Rainforest Building and virtually via Zoom.

Meet with SCORE mentors at the Lobo Rainforest Building! Dar Johnson and Vik Berniklau will be available for one-on-one, confidential discussions and mentoring to inventors, students, and start-up companies.

SCORE mentors are successful business people and entrepreneurs who want to give back to the community by helping other entrepreneurs become and stay successful. SCORE has been helping small businesses start and grow in the Albuquerque area for over 50 years through mentoring and workshops and seminars. SCORE is the largest National resource partner of the Small Business Administration (SBA) with about 11,000 SCORE volunteers sharing their time and talents to help America's small businesses.

IN-PERSON at the Lobo Rainforest Building. Click "Sign up here" to select the time frame you plan to attend.