UNM introduced a new entrepreneurial group for students this week.
Dozens from across campus gathered in the SUB late Monday for the inaugural meeting of the Collegiate Entrepreneurs' Organization at UNM.
For the first time in four years, UNM will charter a student organization aimed at nurturing the entrepreneurial spirit around campus, said Stacy Sacco, director of the Small Business Institute and faculty advisor to the new group.
“The Collegiate Entrepreneurs' Organization probably ties more closely, in so many ways, to what’s going on in this community right now; you have huge growth in the entrepreneurial ecosystem,” he said.
Stacco referenced New Mexico Netlinks, which is a digital economic networking service he provides, as a place that can inform students about what's going on in local markets.
Communities can only produce self-reliant businesses, in a self-reliant economy, if they are comprised of self-reliant business people, he said.
Across the country, there is an increased focus on fostering thriving local economies by local means, Stacco said, and the Collegiate Entrepreneurs' Organization aims to provide UNM students, with a sound foundation in order to continue fostering economic growth locally.
Stacco said the organization embodies an American mindset.
“Everybody’s realizing you can’t wait for the government to create jobs, and it’s probably not a good idea to wait for big corporations to create jobs,” Stacco said. “I’m hearing about students all over campus who want to start businesses, and I think it’s (getting) much bigger, so the idea of having a student entrepreneur club that anyone can join is awesome.”
Bringing a student entrepreneurial club back to UNM was a goal of Stacco’s from the outset of the semester, he said. It wasn’t until a midlecture discussion that it seemed attainable when a student, Kenneth Street, resolved to lead the campaign. He is now the newly appointed chapter president for the organization.
“Kenneth stepped forward and said ‘I want to be that guy.' That says a lot to me,” Stacco said. “If a student wants to do something, you bet I’m gonna be right there behind them, any way I can,”
Street, a junior entrepreneurship and finance major, said he thought of his mentor as a networking guru.
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“Stacy has a lot of connections,” he said. ”I actually had to do lots of recruiting.”
Once it was decided that he would lead the mission to open a UNM chapter of the Collegiate Entrepreneurs' Organization, Street said his foremost concern was assembling a team.
Consulting members of established student organizations regarding the roles of a chapter president reaffirmed his belief that paying attention member to input is essential to successful organizational proceedings, he said.
"Even if just one person in this student organization opens up a business in New Mexico, I believe it would be awesome for the community," Street said. "Because you're not just making one job, you’re making more.”
His ultimate hope for the group is that it remains at UNM after he graduates, he said, in his address to aspiring student entrepreneurs.
Frank Mirabal, director of Collective Impact Albuquerque, also attended the inaugural meeting. The son of a union meatcutter and product of the South Valley, Mirabal said his experience in the nonprofit sector helped him realize that true entrepreneurship is vital to a community, as well as its future.
“I had never looked at it as entrepreneurship,” he said. ”For us, that was survival.”
Johnny Vizcaino is a staff reporter at the Daily Lobo. Contact him at news@dailylobo.com or on twitter @thedailyjohnnyv.
