It’s been four years since the Foundation launched the Mayor’s Prize for Entrepreneurship. Initially a partnership between the Foundation and the E.W. Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, the Mayor’s Prize was built as an innovative, cross-sector collaborative grant program. The program’s goals were clear: to strengthen Albuquerque’s growing entrepreneurial ecosystem and to increase connectivity among local and nontraditional entrepreneurs – to support immigrant businesses, the tech-transfer sector, women entrepreneurs and low-income entrepreneurs.

Today, as we reflect on the first phase of the Mayor’s Prize and prepare to launch the program’s second chapter, we are proud to report that:

• $600,000 has been granted to 8 different Albuquerque-based entrepreneurial support organizations
• Contributed to the creation of over 175 businesses and nearly 750 jobs
• More than 1,580 entrepreneurs have been engaged across grantees
• Awarded organizations leveraged their Mayor’s Prize funding to raise over $1 million of additional funds from local and national funders.

Through the Mayor’s Prize, we learned the root of entrepreneurship is connectivity. Using this knowledge, we created the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Expo, an event that brought together over 150 entrepreneurs, entrepreneurial support organizations, funders, investors and community members. Twenty-two speakers reflected the breadth of Albuquerque’s entrepreneurial ecosystem: immigrants, Native Americans, refugees, people of color, creative and food-based entrepreneurs, technology-based entrepreneurs and community-collaborators focused on buying and selling locally to support Albuquerque’s small business development.  

We invite you to watch the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Expo videos to learn more about this event and the expos that will follow in 2019.