New Mexico is leading the nation in women-owned businesses! Today's Albuquerque Journal highlighted a recent U.S. Census study with promising findings:
Almost 32 percent of businesses in New Mexico are owned by women, according to a recent U.S. Census Bureau survey of 2007 numbers.
That is one of the highest percentages in the nation, just behind Washington, D.C., at 34.5 percent and Maryland at 32.6 percent, according to the Census report.
In my travels around the state, I've consistently seen innovation and excellence from New Mexico's women in business.
This past fall I had a great meeting at the Women's Economic Self-Sufficiency Team (WESST) Enterprise Center to brainstorm ideas for how government can help small business in New Mexico. You can see photos from that visit below.
I've also been encouraged to see that female entrepreneurs in New Mexico are taking full advantage of the federal resources that are available to help their businesses grow.
Ella Leeper at Desert Paper took part in the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program which is setup through the U.S. Department of Commerce. The program helps manufacturers to maximize efficiency so that they can be competitive regionally and globally.
After visiting Desert Paper, we took a closer look at how the program worked for Ella in the video below and I hope that other companies around the state will follow her lead.
It's exciting to see New Mexico be a leader in women-owned business and I think we can do even better. We need to make sure that all of our young people have the necessary resources in education and opportunities to pursue their dreams.
