Paul Goblet, Financial Advisor, NM SBIC

When the New Mexico Small Business Investment Corp. formed in 2001, its founders envisioned the organization directly owning minority stakes in a large number of small New Mexico businesses that had received federal loans from the Small Business Administration or U.S. Department of Agriculture. While this seemed like a good idea at the time, it was a challenge to implement.

After several amendments to the founding statute, the NMSBIC formed cooperative agreements with professional capital and service providers, which the organization considered better qualified and staffed to make equity investments.

How it began

The organization’s first equity commitment — of $1.5 million, as a limited partner — was in 2004 to a small local fund, Flywheel Ventures I.  Since then, Flywheel Ventures I has raised more than $30 million for equity investments in early stage technology companies, making it the largest New Mexico-based fund. Flywheel Ventures I was the first equity fund with headquarters in New Mexico.

Shortly afterward, the Verge Fund set up shop in Albuquerque, also intent on making small equity investments in early stage technology companies. The NMSBIC was the catalyst for creating both funds, as well as the other locally headquartered equity funds that followed, including New Mexico Gap Fund, Verge Fund I.5, New Mexico Growth Fund I, New Mexico Growth Fund II and New Mexico Mezzanine Fund. To date, the NMSBIC, through its partners, has invested equity in 35 businesses in the state.

Different funds for different folks

Each equity fund is slightly different both in size and expertise. Knowing the orientation of each fund can help a business owner know which fund might be the best to approach about an investment.

The Mezzanine Fund can invest up to $1 million, but the portfolio company must demonstrate a history of cash flow sufficient to afford quarterly interest payments. New Mexico Mezzanine Fund typically invests in service companies that often don’t have manufacturing plants or heavy equipment but instead consider people their primary assets. Such companies often find it hard to get large loans because they rarely have lots of hard assets to be used as collateral.

New Mexico Gap Fund, which is managed by Flywheel Ventures, invests small amounts of equity ($50,000 to $200,000) in early stage technology-based companies that show signs of rapid investment credibility; the Gap Fund cannot provide additional capital after the initial investment. To date, the Gap Fund has invested in nine New Mexico companies.

New Mexico Community Capital invests in non-tech companies — often manufacturing or service providers. It typically invests between $500,000 and $1 million, but the company must demonstrate growth potential and rapid profitability.

More details and a direct link to each equity fund are found at http://www.financenewmexico.org/find_funding.html.

Article 147

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Leslie Hoffman, V.P. of Lending and Client Service, ACCIÓN New Mexico ∙ Arizona ∙ Colorado

Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Lena Carr needed money to buy filmmaking equipment and to travel to Arizona to wrap up work on a video about the life of an 18-year-old Native American man — a project she began when her subject was 6 years old.

The owner of Indian Summer Films turned to ACCIÓN New Mexico ∙ Arizona ∙ Colorado, a nonprofit lender, two years ago for her first loan of $500. ACCIÓN approved the loan for several reasons, including the social benefits of Carr’s chosen profession, which also provides her an income through DVD sales. As collateral for that loan, Carr offered a traditional Navajo dress woven by her mother — a sentimental possession that demonstrated her commitment to her business and her lender.

Carr has returned to ACCIÓN three more times for loans needed for working capital and to distribute her films.

Nontraditional lenders are out there

ACCIÓN is one of several New Mexico-based nontraditional lenders that lend money at competitive rates to small-business people. Since its inception, the community development organization has helped 2,800 small businesses with loans as small as $200 and as large as $150,000.

Besides lending money, ACCIÓN provides training and other support services to help people realize their ambitions and be catalysts for positive economic and social change. The organization looks for character: hardworking small-business owners and emerging entrepreneurs who share the organization’s values of passion, a pioneering spirit, integrity, commitment to excellence and a history of accountability. ACCIÓN and most lenders also require borrowers to meet basic criteria, including:

Cash flow: The lender evaluates the business’s monthly income and expenses to determine whether the borrower can cover a monthly loan payment. The organization considers whether the loan will increase the business’s income and often works with borrowers to make the most of their financial resources.

Credit history: A credit report provides insight into a potential borrower’s previous relationships with creditors. The lender reviews the most important elements of the credit report, including the credit score.

Collateral: A willingness to pledge items of value to secure a loan until it is repaid is an important indicator of client commitment.

An ACCIÓN loan can be used for a variety of business purposes that promise to improve an individual’s financial health. Loans can be used to buy or upgrade equipment, purchase inventory or property or for marketing. If the borrower doesn’t meet ACCIÓN’s loan standards, the organization will work with him to improve his financial position.

Learn more about ACCIÓN New Mexico ∙ Arizona ∙ Colorado

Article 146

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Tom Stephenson, Managing General Partner, Verge Fund

The primary way in which banks make money is through loans.  But in today’s economic environment, regulators are requiring banks to increase their reserves – the capital that backs loans – to support an increasing number of loans at risk of default.  As banks work hard to reduce their bad loans, many are making far fewer new loans and decreasing the limits on existing lines of credit. Their problem is that they need to make more loans to make money, but they are being pressured to make fewer loans. 

For business owners in need of capital to grow or stay afloat, a bank’s problems can become their own.  A company that once qualified for a line of credit now might only qualify for a smaller line or no line at all. This is often true for a company seeking its first round of debt financing, but even companies with long-standing relationships with commercial lenders feel the scrutiny.  Banks and businesses operate in a vastly different financial world than a few years ago.

Consider the Alternatives

With commercial banks increasingly sidelined, many businesses are finding an answer to their borrowing needs in smaller loans from alternative lenders. Sometimes referred to as micro-lenders, these organizations specialize in smaller loans to help startups. But as alternative lenders such as ACCION, WESST and The Loan Fund have demonstrated in the past few years, they can also support larger loans of greater scope.

Larger businesses with an existing and predictable base of business can turn to asset-based lenders. These lenders typically take a direct security interest – or even buy – a business’s assets, like its accounts receivable. A trusted commercial banker can provide the name of reputable asset-based lenders.

Equity investment is another source of capital, but it is far different from debt financing. An equity investor has a distinct expectation of potential return for the investment and truly becomes a partner.

Sources of debt financing expect repayment of their investment over time and a reasonable rate of interest.  Depending on the nature of the loan and the condition of the company, interest might be tied to the prime rate paid by banks, but it is generally not more than 10 to 15 percent. In contrast, equity investors are more patient about being repaid in the future, and they don’t need regularly scheduled interim payments. But they typically expect an annualized return of 40 to 60 percent, depending upon what stage the company is in.  For an equity investor, the company’s growth prospects must be extremely strong, or the owner can expect to give up a large equity stake to make the economics work for the investor. 

Equity Means Ownership

Another important difference between debt and equity financing is the investor’s level of involvement.  While today’s economic environment requires any source of capital to pay close attention to the business, equity investors are true partners because they own part of the company.  Equity investors expect to be treated as co-owners and to reap substantial benefits at the end of their relations with the company, usually when the company is sold. 

As commercial banks keep tight control of their loan portfolios and alternative lenders address specific lending needs, equity has become more important in the spectrum of funding opportunities available to companies. Equity capital is available through local venture capital firms, as well as New Mexico Angels and hybrid sources such as New Mexico Mezzanine Capital.

Before approaching any source of capital, business owners should research the expectations and areas of focus of the organizations they are considering approaching.  Equity investors do not look favorably upon being asked for a term loan, and technology investors are unlikely to invest in a construction deal. Time wasted pursuing inappropriate sources means delays in acquiring the capital needed to grow a business.

A convincing plan that demonstrates strong growth potential is likely to catch equity investors’ attention. And any company that has survived the recession more streamlined, more focused on customers and sales, and more savvy about how to grow rapidly in the recovering economy will find itself more attractive to equity investors than ever before.

Money is available to support growing and successful businesses. Those who find it only look a little harder.

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Article 145

George "Twig" Segura, Senior Account Executive, Daniels Insurance

Entrepreneurs do everything they can to control the elements that contribute to their business’s success, but some events are out of their control. That’s where business insurance comes in: to ensure that an unpredictable event doesn’t destroy everything the company’s owner has worked for.

Business insurance — also called commercial insurance — is an umbrella term for a variety of products designed to protect business or commercial interests. Some businesses require insurance that targets industry-specific challenges, but other types of insurance address risks common to all businesses.

Commercial property insurance covers buildings, contents, inventory and equipment against physical loss or damage. It typically comes with “business income and extra expense coverage,” which compensates a business owner for the money that’s lost while the business is closed because of an insured loss.

Commercial general liability insurance protects a business from claims for bodily injury or property damage to customers and clients. It covers claims that result from a customer or visitor getting hurt on the business’s property or from an employee damaging property at a client’s home or business.

Professional liability coverage, sometimes called “errors and omissions” (E&O) insurance, can help businesses that deal with customers who potentially could claim that something the business or its employees did for them was done incorrectly and cost them money or caused them harm. 

Workers’ compensation and employers liability coverage is required of all New Mexico businesses — with limited exceptions — that employ three or more workers; for the construction trades, no minimum number of employees applies. This insurance provides benefits in the wake of occupational injuries or disease suffered by an employee, regardless of fault. Benefits include payment of medical services and lost wages, subject to a limit set by state law. Workers’ compensation is the exclusive remedy for the coverage of work-related injuries.

Accounts receivable coverage protects a business when its records are destroyed by an insured peril and the business cannot collect the money owed. The policy covers these uncollectible sums plus the expense of record reconstruction and extra collection fees. It does not insure the physical value of the records themselves, such as the paper, computer disks and tapes on which they’re stored.

Crime coverage and fidelity bonds protect a business from crime-related losses, whether it’s burglary, robbery or theft. Fidelity bonds specifically cover theft perpetrated by a business’s employees who steal money, equipment or other assets from the business (first-party fidelity) or a client (third-party liability)

Given all these insurances choices, a business owner should view an insurance agent as a business partner who can help her tailor coverage to her business’s specific risks and needs.

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Article 144

Monica Abeita, Regional Development Corp. for Northern NM Connect

The New Mexico Small Business Assistance program provides free technical assistance and expertise from scientists and engineers at Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories to New Mexico small businesses facing challenges with testing, design and access to equipment or facilities.  Businesses do not have to be technology-based, however, the challenge they face must be potentially solvable using laboratory resources. While individual businesses can request assistance anytime, the program annually considers leveraged projects involving multiple businesses with a shared problem. 

Small businesses can submit a pre-proposal for leveraged projects through July 23. The pre-proposal should explain the problem, identify what expertise NMSBA offers that can’t be found in the private sector at reasonable cost and the expected economic benefit to the businesses. Successful applicants will be asked to submit a full proposal.

NMSBA awarded 27 leveraged projects last year to New Mexico businesses, including

* The Bovine Tuberculosis Detection project: LANL scientists Harshini Mukundan, Basin Swanson and LANL’s sensor team helped develop an accurate, hand-held sensor to test cattle after tuberculosis-infected herds were discovered in the Clovis-Portales area. Traditional tests for bovine tuberculosis are inaccurate and expensive and results take too long. A biosensor developed at LANL for detecting TB in humans was modified for cattle, and the new instrument provides results within 30 minutes at significantly lower costs. Myles Culbertson, director of the New Mexico Livestock Board, predicted that “the new sensor will reduce costs for producers, avoid industry catastrophes and eradicate this disease from the US once and for all.”

* On-site desalination: Allan Sattler from Sandia and Jeri Sullivan from LANL worked with companies led by Biosphere Environmental Science and Technologies to test a pretreatment system that enables saline water brought to the surface during oil or gas production to be reused on site. Participating companies hope to improve water treatment at oil and gas production sites in the San Juan Basin to reduce the cost of shipping and disposing of nearly one billion barrels of saline water each year.

* Water-quality for wells: Scientists from both labs worked with companies that sell water-treatment systems to private well owners. Malcolm Siegel, an environmental scientist at SNL, teamed with local businesses to evaluate water quality on and near the Navajo Reservation in Ramah. Near Española, Patrick Longmire, an aqueous geochemist at LANL, and his team of Benjamin Linhoff and Michael Rearick tested more than 500 private wells for contaminants and water-quality parameters. They gave well owners water quality data and created regional groundwater quality maps identifying areas of natural mineralization and contamination. The data will be used to identify potential customers, offer inexpensive treatment systems and develop innovative treatment technologies.

* Fusion-power technology: Four Northern New Mexico companies are collaborating on a prototype based on the Polywell, an evolving fusion-power technology. Fusion power is a form of nuclear energy found naturally in the sun. It creates nuclear energy by fusing light nuclei together in a plasma state, rather than splitting heavy nuclei and leaving radioactive waste. LANL scientists Glen Wurden and Mark Smith and theorist Gian Luca Delzanno are helping the companies understand instabilities in the plasma that affect the reactor’s operation. “The stakes are high in developing new energy technologies,” said Wurden. “The companies are working to make fusion power practical, and LANL is proud to provide assistance that will enable new options for our energy future.”

See guidelines at www.nnmconnect.net or contact Lisa Henne at LANL (505-667-1710 or henne@lanl.gov) or Jenni Degreeff at SNL (505-844-9623, jldegre@sandia.gov).

Learn more about Northern New Mexico Connect programs.

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Article 143

Wayne Unze, Director of Business Brokerage at Maestas & Ward Commercial Real Estate

Anyone thinking about buying or investing in a business needs to do due diligence to make sure it’s a viable venture with long-range income potential. But due diligence means more than just reviewing the balance sheets and income statements.

Some other things that warrant close inspection before a buyer signs the final closing documents include:

Client list: A buyer should find out if most of the company’s business is done with a few entities or if the business has a diversified, extensive customer base. If clients are limited, the buyer should meet with some of them to determine if they will remain loyal after the sale. Because of the seller’s need for confidentiality, any such contacts should occur just before closing and under the seller’s scrutiny.

Key employees: If the company relies on key people to perform its services and the buyer doesn’t have those skills, the buyer should meet confidentially with employees who do and ask if they plan to stay. Most employees will remain after a sale because a change of ownership isn’t as traumatic as a job change.

Books and records: A buyer should obtain tax returns from the company for the past three years to verify income statements. He should also review accounts receivable and payable, any property or equipment leases, pertinent contracts, warranties and copies of the gross receipts tax statements for the past year.

Equipment and inventory: The assets of an asset-intensive businesses warrant an inspection to determine if the inventory is marketable and the equipment is working.

Industry outlook: A prospective buyer should research the industry in which the business operates to determine if it’s a healthy and growing area of commerce. The buyer should also discuss with the seller where the business ranks with respect to its market share and what can be done to improve its position.

Chattel and tax lien search: The closing attorney should perform a chattel and tax lien search to uncover any possible encumbrances against the business’s assets. Smart buyers ask for searches to be run on both the business and the owners.

Suitable lease: If someone is buying a business with a seven-year promissory note, a three-year lease isn’t attractive. The seller’s leasehold interests can be transferred to the buyer in a lease assignment, a sublease or a new lease. Any purchase agreement should state that the purchase is contingent upon the buyer’s acceptance of a suitable new lease, sublease or lease assignment.

Professional assistance: A buyer should hire a good CPA to review financial records, and an experienced business attorney can advise on legal matters such as contracts, leases and other agreements. Spending a few thousand dollars on professionals before making a major investment is a bargain for peace of mind.

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Marci Rulon, CEO, Southwest Federal Credit Union

Whether an entrepreneur is starting a new business or expanding an existing venture, applying for a loan can be daunting. A good business plan makes the process less intimidating and more likely to succeed.

In writing a business plan, the business owner should consider her business from the lender’s perspective and demonstrate why she is a good credit risk.  The business plan should include the following sections:

Executive summary: This one- or two-page narrative appears first but is written last – after the owner has prepared the other components. The summary highlights the plan’s contents and explains why the loan is needed.

The company: This is the place to describe the legal status of the company and its history.  If it’s a new company, it should reveal the company’s startup plans and any collateral needed to secure the loan.

The market: A lender wants to know that a business owner has a clearly defined market that’s big enough to make the business profitable.  The borrower needs to know his customers – what they need, where they are and how to reach them.

Product or service: The entrepreneur must explain to the lender what she’s selling and how the product or service will benefit customers.  The lender wants to know why the borrower’s product or service is better than the competition’s. The borrower must show an ability to control the delivery and quality of the product or service.

Management team: The business owner’s personal qualities and character and the management team’s skill and expertise matter to a lender. The owner should describe his personal investment in the company – both in “sweat equity” and money.

Company strategy: Here’s where to outline specific plans to build and expand the business and to project a budget for the next one to five years. If it’s a new business, the lender wants to see well-prepared, realistic strategies for building the venture from the ground up.

Financial section: The lender will closely evaluate the company’s most recent asset/liability and income/expense statements and especially the projected profit and losses statements and cash flow tables. These reports show the lender whether the borrower has enough resources to handle the loan payments. (Some lenders want to review the business owner’s personal finances and see two years of the company’s tax returns. These don’t need to be part of the business plan, but borrowers should be prepared to provide them if the lender asks for them.)

For help in preparing a business plan, a business owner can visit one of the 20 local Small Business Development Centers around the state. For the nearest office, visit www.nmsbdc.org.

Learn more about the New Mexico Small Business Development Centers.

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Naomi Engelman, SATOP Project Engineer

During his years in the hotel and hospitality business, Nate Mandalia of Alamogordo struggled with a problem experienced by many people who have to dress professionally for work: how to keep the hem of his pants from bunching up on his shoe or dragging on the ground.  Mandalia came up with a solution – an invention he calls the “hemlock.”

With assistance and advice from the Space Alliance Technology Outreach Program (SATOP), Mandalia applied for a patent for his shoe accessory and completed prototypes.  His next step is to proceed from prototype design to mass manufacturing.

“I’m not an engineer,” Mandalia said. Turning an invention into a marketable product “is more difficult when you don’t have experience doing (it).”

Brain meld

SATOP is a nationwide cooperative program that provides up to 40 hours of free technical assistance to small businesses or entrepreneurs wrestling with engineering challenges that are impeding their success. SATOP uses technical expertise derived from the U.S. space program to address a variety of problems faced by existing or startup entities.

SATOP assistance is provided by its Alliance Partner Network which is made up of more than 45 companies, universities, colleges, national laboratories and NASA centers (Johnson Space Center in Texas, Kennedy Space Center in Florida and White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico). Program organizers link professionals in these organizations with eligible members of the small-business community.

While many businesses approved to participate in SATOP use far less than the maximum allowable hours of free technical assistance, Mandalia’s challenges required the full 40 hours, most of which were used to refine the design and engineer his product.  The program matched him with Yu-Ping Tang, an engineer at New Mexico State University’s Manufacturing Technology and Engineering Center.

Help on many levels

While Mandalia sought help with a product design suitable for mass manufacturing, SATOP’s cooperating professionals can assist a small business or entrepreneur with any type of engineering conundrum — from questions about adhesives and acoustics to those concerning materials and fluid dynamics and everything in between. SATOP has helped companies with machine design, process engineering, material selection and just about any other issue imaginable.

A company does not have to be technology-based to receive assistance, as Mandalia’s example demonstrates. The program has processed more than 3,000 requests since it began in 2001, and more than 2,500 resolutions have been provided to businesses – usually within 90 days of the start of collaboration.

The program’s success has created intense demand for assistance, though SATOP’s resources are limited. Business owners interested in applying for assistance can learn more about SATOP at the program’s website: www.spacetechsolutions.com. Before submitting an online request for technical assistance, New Mexico entrepreneurs are urged to contact the state’s SATOP Center at 2209 Miguel Chavez Road, Suite C, Santa Fe, N.M. 87505 (phone: 505-428-7762). They should be prepared to give their company’s name, address, phone number and a brief description of the background, context and description of the technical problem.

Learn more about SATOP.

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Monica Abeita, Regional Development Corp. for Northern NM Connect

Los Alamos National Laboratory’s MBA Summer Internship Program recently picked four graduate students to be summer interns and help the lab’s scientists and engineers find commercial uses for new technology and to assist real-life companies with business challenges.

The 2010 class consists of four people studying for their masters degree in business administration: Justin Dewey of the University of New Mexico, John Harris of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Ian Soti-Landis of Keck Graduate Institute and Jacqueline Shen of Cornell University, who is returning to the program for a second year.

The team begins its work in June and will spend 10 to 12 weeks assisting Technology Transfer Division employees, LANL inventors and regional entrepreneurs with a variety of business development and commercialization activities — with special emphasis on supporting new businesses based on LANL technology and expertise.

“We are looking forward to another exciting year of hosting tomorrow’s brightest business leaders to commercialize lab technology and assist regional companies,” said Steve Girrens, leader of LANL’s Technology Transfer Division, which oversees the program.

Real-world studies

While the Technology Transfer Division is still making the final pick of projects for this year’s group, the class of 2009 spent its energies on projects as specific as helping a Chama-based sports memorabilia business, Sportartist.com, develop a marketing strategy and another big project with a more regional, long-range reach.

Project coordinators enlisted the 2009 team to help devise a strategy to make Northern New Mexico’s technology-based businesses — what organizers call the “technology cluster” — more nationally competitive. “The technology-cluster strategy moved us into new territory of addressing several interrelated industries, rather than a single company,” said Belinda Padilla, LANL Technology Transfer program manager.

The technology-cluster effort was a partnership with REDI (Northern New Mexico’s Regional Economic Development Initiative), whose 2009 regional plan identified a need to make tech-based businesses more competitive with similar businesses in other parts of the country.

“The team’s efforts provided a thorough and valuable analysis as well as a road map of implementation strategies,” said Ed Burckle, executive director of the Regional Development Corporation, which manages REDI. The New Mexico Technology Council Today and REDI have teamed up to act on the recommendations in the technology cluster strategy developed by the MBA students.

Sharing knowledge

The Technology Transfer Division is a conduit for LANL collaborations with private industry. It promotes sharing LANL technologies and discoveries with entrepreneurs willing to find commercially feasible, tech-based products that can benefit society as a whole. The division concentrates on technology licensing, cooperative research and development agreements and special assistance for employees interested in starting a business based on their LANL inventions.

Learn more about the lab’s MBA Summer Internship Program.

Learn more about other Northern New Mexico Connect programs.

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John Woosley, SBA New Mexico District Director

Albuquerque entrepreneur Tamara Marquez-Nugent is New Mexico’s Small Business Person of the Year and that puts her in the running for national recognition by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) at the National Small Business Week celebration May 23-25 in Washington, D.C.

Marquez-Nugent is president & CEO of Moving Solutions Inc. of Albuquerque, a wholly woman-owned company founded in 2006.  The company assists companies in developing comprehensive relocation plans to minimize downtime and get on their feet quickly and efficiently in new surroundings. In four years, Moving Solutions has grown from a one-woman venture to an enterprise with 30 employees. 

“I’ve worked hard at this business, in an industry dominated by men,” said Marquez-Nugent. Breaking into the industry was especially tough, she said, given that many of her top competitors were national moving companies with far greater resources. “For a lot of those companies, the money (they make) doesn’t stay here,” Marquez-Nugent said, whereas she said she buys what she needs for her business from local suppliers and vendors and all her employees live in New Mexico.

The New Mexico Small Business Administration will honor Marquez-Nugent and other small-business standouts and their advocates from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. June 3 at the state’s Small Business Week Awards Celebration luncheon at Hotel Albuquerque at Old Town, 800 Rio Grande Blvd. N.W.

This year’s award recipients represent the excellent entrepreneurial character of America’s small businesses. The SBA New Mexico district office is especially pleased that three of New Mexico’s winners have also been named Region VI winners and two New Mexico winners are national winners.  (Region VI includes the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.)
Lloyd Calderon, director of the state Department of Veterans’ Services’ Veteran Enterprise and Training Program will receive the National Veteran Small Business Champion of the Year award.  The award recognizes individuals who have distinguished themselves by increasing business opportunities for veterans, demonstrated success in obtaining community support for veteran-owned businesses and improved awareness of business opportunities among veteran business owners. Calderon was first selected as New Mexico’s award winner and then went on to compete at the regional level among the ten districts in Region VI.  He was declared the national winner after competing against representatives of the 68 districts in the 9 other SBA regions.   

The second national award winner is the Roswell, N.M. office of WESST.  The office, led by director Anthony Urquidez, received the Women’s Business Center of Excellence Award in recognition of its assistance to women entrepreneurs.  WESST, which provides a wide variety of training and counseling services, is also one of the state’s two SBA microlenders.

The two regional winners are Small Business Exporter of the Year David Ramahi, president & CEO of Albuquerque-based Optomec Inc. and Women in Business Champion of the Year Sandra L. Cody, president of Resources for Excellence Inc.

The New Mexico Small Business Week Celebration is sponsored by the Small Business Administration, the New Mexico Small Business Development Center Network and the New Mexico Department of Veterans’ Services.  The event begins with six morning training sessions that include the following topics:  Marketing to Government Agencies; Doing Business with General Services Administration; Networking Effectively; Government Agency Personnel Training; Financing & International Trade Opportunities; and Facilitating Teaming Arrangement Strategies, with special emphasis on opportunities for veterans.  The concurrent training sessions begin at 8:30 a.m. and 10 a.m. followed by the awards luncheon at 11:30 a.m.  A Matchmaking Expo follows the luncheon from 2 to 5 p.m.
Attendance to the daylong event costs $35 per person.  Register by calling 505-428-1362 or 1-800-281-7232 or 505-248-8225.  The registration form is available for downloading on the SBA website at www.sba.gov.nm.

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