Sep 22, 2020
$199,000 Awarded to 3 Albuquerque Nonprofits!
Congratulations to Global Ties ABQ, Technology Ventures, and WESST on your big win yesterday. These three Albuquerque nonprofits submitted RFPs for the Mayors Prize for Entrepreneurship, powered by the Albuquerque Communtiy Foundation along with 24 other organizations this fall, and were selected as 3 of 11 finalists. The winners were announced on November 17, 2015 by Mayor Richard J. Berry at the Global Entrepreneurship celebration at the Epicenter Downtown.
Awards: Technology Ventures $100,000; WESST $85,000; and Global Ties $14,000. Information about the projects in their winning proposals can be found here.
27 applications reviewed, 11 finalists selected
The 11 organizations selected best met the criteria set for the program which supports development of the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Albuquerque. The finalists are:
ABQid: In order to increase access to and connectivity of entrepreneurship resources in the Greater Albuquerque area, ABQid proposes to found and facilitate a quarterly forum for local organizations that serve entrepreneurs. The forums, called, Albuquerque Entrepreneurship Advocacy Forums, will serve to connect ABQid’s ecosystem’s service providers at an unprecedented level.
Catalyst Week: Catalyst Week proposes a new program, ABQ Activate, which will be a gateway to the ABQ Innovation District. The program will offer a consistent monthly event at the Epicenter that will introduce newcomers to the city’s ecology and provide assistance to navigate available entrepreneurial resources. ABQ Activate will be financially sustainable with paid outings to creative local spaces following each event.
CNM Ingenuity, Inc.: CNM’s Ingenuity’s STEMulus Center is currently a hub for Albuquerque’s budding entrepreneurial ecosystem. Funding from the Mayor’s Prize would enable the STEMulus Center to add vital components to the ecosystem: a MakerSpace linked to their community accelerator, coding bootcamp, cyber academy and entrepreneurial mindset programs.
Creative Startups: The Mayor’s Prize funds would support Creative Startups Labs that would provide entrepreneurs in the creative and arts industries with the connections and resources needed to fully launch their companies. Specifically, this includes connecting entrepreneurs with: regional resource partners; potential customers; market and local channel leaders and investors.
Global Ties: Global Ties ABQ proposes the development of its Global Innovator Program. The program would build an international and business community in New Mexico, while fostering support for the city’s start-up industry. The goal of the program is to educate entrepreneurs and investors on the global business climate and how to successfully expand their markets.
New Mexico Community Capital: New Mexico Community Capital (NMCC) provides knowledge and capital for New Mexico’s high-potential businesses in emerging or underserved markets. The Mayor’s Prize would support NMCC’s Native Entrepreneur in Residence Program, an initiative to create sustainable economic opportunities for Native American entrepreneurs and enhance a sense of place, economic self-sufficiency and preserve culture and heritage.
Quelab: Quelab is Albuquerque’s first makerspace and it is committed to fostering and sustaining an environment that promotes creativity, invention and collaboration at the intersection of science, culture, art and technology. Through the Mayor’s Prize, Quelab seeks to invite prospective entrepreneurs to its space and create brainstorming and work sessions that will assist with transitioning entrepreneurial projects from conception to development and prototype completion.
Rio Grande Community Development Corporation (RGCDC): Funds from the Mayor’s Prize will support RGCDC’s Conectemos (Let’s Connect) project. Conectemos is aimed at supporting place-based local resources at the South Valley Economic Development Center, utilizing trust and relationships, and connecting entrepreneurs – especially low-income entrepreneurs who face cultural or linguistic barriers – to the local and city-wide resources they need to succeed.
Technology Ventures Corporation (TVC): TVC would like to build upon its successful business model that assists businesses “beyond the initial tech transfer/start-up phase.” It will do this by establishing and implementing a growth program that will leverage and match local resources with the national capabilities (knowledge, tools and facilities) available to help small to medium-sized high-tech companies take their business to the next level.
University of New Mexico Innovation Academy: The Mayor’s Prize would support UNM’s StartUp School, a comprehensive framework for developing new ventures. Through the program, entrepreneurs are offered a series of workshops wherein they learn what they need to do in order to launch successful and sustainable businesses.
Women’s Economic Self-Sufficiency Team (WESST): The Mayor’s Prize would support WESST’s Creative P.I.E. (Practice, Innovation and Enterprise) program, which targets emerging and/or growing creatives (artists, makers and food producers) by providing a no-barriers-to-entry program of wrap-around services. By reaching over 200 metro-area creatives, Creative P.I.E will serve to build a more robust creative economy, grow Albuquerque’s arts reputation and raise the business and financial literacy rates of the city’s creative professionals.
Winner(s) of the 2015 Mayor's Prize Program will be announced November 17, 2015 at the Epicenter ABQ at the Community Celebration of Entrepreneurship! This event will include recognition of several entrepreneurs in our community and will conclude with the announcement of the 2015 Mayor's Prize Program.