Release courtesy of the NMSU News Center
WRITER: Janet Perez, 575-646-4120, perezjm@nmsu.edu
CONTACT: Sara Pirayesh Sanders, 575-646-7036, npirayes@nmsu.edu
If you’re a small business owner or entrepreneur in need of assistance, New Mexico State University’s Arrowhead Center can help.
The Arrowhead Center currently is accepting applications from small business owners and entrepreneurs for its Entrepreneur Venture Program taking place this spring. The deadline to submit an application is Jan. 16. Those selected will receive specialized support and resources to help their businesses reach the next level of development.
The services that Arrowhead Center’s Entrepreneur Venture Program offers are becoming even more critical in this sluggish economy.
“Entrepreneurship and innovation are topics on the national stage, with an emphasis on job creation through startups,” said Sara Sanders, entrepreneurship director at the Arrowhead Center. “New Mexico needs to be a part of that conversation. Over the past decade, New Mexico’s entrepreneurial activity has not grown; in fact, it has decreased. The Arrowhead Center aims to help change that reality through programs such as this.”
According to the Kauffman Foundation’s 2010 Index of Entrepreneurial Activity, New Mexico was one of three states to record the largest decreases in entrepreneurial activity rates over the past decade. New Mexico ranked below Wyoming and just ahead of Alaska. For the year 2010, however, New Mexico fared better, scoring an estimated 320 per 100,000 adults starting new businesses. That was comparable to Arizona and far ahead of West Virginia’s number of 170 per 100,000.
Services for the Entrepreneur Venture Program are customized to fit startups and established businesses alike. The program’s services include business plans, marketing studies, feasibility studies, financial analyses and industry analyses. Businesses accepted into the program are chosen based on a variety of factors, including the degree to which they contribute to economic development in New Mexico.
Since it was established in 2004, the Arrowhead Center has completed more than 300 business research projects involving more than 300 undergraduate and graduate students. It also has fostered the spin-off of a university genetics-testing laboratory that has resulted in a new for-profit corporation, and completed several state-level economic studies.
For more information on the Entrepreneur Venture Program, call 575-646-7036 or visit http://www.arrowheadcenter.org.
