The community event promotes entrepreneurship in New Mexico
March 23, 2023
The New Mexico Highlands University Department of Business Administration is hosting the second annual Cowboy Up! Pitch competition on April 20, 2023. The competition will feature the business ideas of the top ten finalists and will be judged by a panel of professors and business owners. A total of $5,000 in cash awards will be distributed to the top five business ideas to provide seed money to help them launch their businesses in New Mexico.
NMHU students and staff and community members all had the opportunity to submit their business ideas for the competition earlier this month, and on March 20, the top ten finalists will be selected. In the weeks leading up to the April 20 competition, the ten finalists will take part in a five-week slate of workshops at NMHU to help them further develop their business plans. The courses are being offered at no cost to the finalists and, regardless of the competition outcome, may incentivize participants to pursue a business degree or their entrepreneurship in other ways.
“It’s a way to get members of the community to see NMHU and the Department of Business Administration as a resource,” Rodney Sanchez, Chair of the Department of Business Administration, said. “It’s a way to work together to strengthen local businesses and hopefully spark economic development in New Mexico.”
Sanchez said that while most people have an idea for a business, researching what the community needs and whether the proposed business will be viable is the key to success in bringing a business idea to fruition.
“Research really separates a whole sea of good ideas from business ideas that are actually feasible,” Sanchez said. “It’s also important to ask, ‘What’s the gap we can see in our community, and how can we fill that gap?’”