The UNM Anderson School of Management has formed a new Center for Responsible Entrepreneurship through a collaborative partnership with the City of Santa Fe and Santa Fe Innovates, a business accelerator for tech and solution-oriented startups with a vision for social good.

This new center will focus on helping socially conscious entrepreneurs from Santa Fe and Northern New Mexico by bringing them into a community of involved stakeholders to launch and grow their scalable ideas into successful business ventures. It will also connect this network of local business leaders to the global Sustainability Centres Community (nbs.net/for-sustainability-centres/) to learn and spread best practices of stakeholder capitalism and to share Santa Fe’s efforts in this growing area of business.

“As an entrepreneur and a writer about entrepreneurship, I am delighted and excited by this partnership,” said Santa Fe Mayor Alan Webber. “Santa Fe is the perfect place to teach young, aspiring businesspeople that they can make a living, make a life, and make a difference by believing in themselves and their own business dream. This is just the beginning, and we look forward to more offerings and great results from this joint venture.”

The three-way partnership will help support budding and established entrepreneurs in Northern New Mexico by providing training, resources and advocacy for policy development to encourage corporate social responsibility. It will also bridge academic research, applied business practices, and the existing community to bring national and state private funding to develop and expand programs in Santa Fe.

“This partnership highlights the growing entrepreneurial-minded population in New Mexico,” said UNM Anderson Dean Mitzi M. Montoya. “The formation of this center enables Anderson to serve as an invested partner in progress to help this group of motivated leaders succeed and foster a more sustainable and inclusive New Mexico economy.”

Rich Brown, director of Santa Fe community and economic development, said he sees a great deal of potential entrepreneurship being supported by the new center. “Younger generations see businesses as a means of creating the change they want to see in the world while earning a living. By having this UNM Anderson Center as a part of our Santa Fe entrepreneurial ecosystem, starting a business or supporting an existing family business will translate to academic value and profit—with a public purpose.”

A key activity of the center is a series of workshops in the coming months:

  • Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022, Santa Fe
  • Thursday, Oct. 27, 2022, Santa Fe
  • Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2022, Santa Fe
  • Friday, Dec. 9, 2022, Albuquerque
  • Friday, Feb. 3, 2023, Albuquerque
  • March 2023, date TBD, Santa Fe

Jon Mertz, Santa Fe Innovates founder and CEO, stated that he is particularly invested in the diversity and sustainability aspects supported by the center. “Diversity is a part of our culture and community, providing a foundation to prepare New Mexico business leaders to advance sustainability, embrace equity, and employ good governance. The future of responsible business leadership is rooted here, and through the center, our impact will grow,” he said.

For more information, visit mgt.unm.edu/responsible/.