The Loan Fund
Cambri Gardner had spent much of her professional career in sales until a career change to the medical spa industry gave her a new sense of purpose. “Sales was not fun for me. Although I had been in sales most of my life, I really didn’t feel like I was …
High in the Sangre Cristo Mountains in Northern New Mexico lies a unique business for coffee lovers. Raymond Jaramillo created Blacklake Roasters in 2009 in Angel Fire after leaving the New Mexico Piñon Coffee Company where the master roaster had learned the art of coffee roasting, the process of using …
When the owner of 5 Star Burgers in Taos began talking about retiring and selling the business, employees worried whether Bob Gontram could find a buyer. The restaurant that creates a burger with organic beef has been a staple in this Northern New Mexico town for nearly 16 years. Though …
Although Adrian Chavez, Sr., did not intend to start a security business, it is more than clear that he’s on the right path. Chavez created Lobo Protective Services in 2017 after someone approached him while he was a security guard working at another company, saying she noticed his work ethic and integrity. …
She began her career as a realtor and ran a cleaning business. She later transitioned into banking, helping clients with credit cards and managing customer accounts. After a decade in personal banking, Justa Chaz shifted into insurance, becoming an agent with Farmers. After working with Farmers for two years, she …
The New Mexico Small Business Investment Corporation (NMSBIC) has allocated an additional $2.5 million to The Loan Fund, making its total investment to the nonprofit $37.5 million. The state legislature created the NMSBIC more than two decades ago when legislators decided to take a tiny percentage of a tax fund …
When Las Cruces resident Silvia Terrazas looked for videos to rent in Spanish, she found none so she created a store to fill that need. In 2000, she obtained financing from other sources to open Video Exitos and also placed a freezer in the store, which was filled with ice …
For the past five decades, the Dominguez family in Las Vegas, N.M., has been operating one of Northern New Mexico’s most reliable heating and cooling companies. The company started in 1973 under Frank Dominguez, who created Shillinglaw, LLC. The company worked on housing developments in Santa Fe and other similar …
October 31 — The Loan Fund has made a record $5.6 million in loans and lines of credit and an additional $1 million loan so far in the last half of 2023 to New Mexicans creating an RV business, expanding trash services or counseling services in rural areas and small …
He started growing in his garage about 12 years ago. It was an interest he developed in high school after he went vegan and he was trying to get more protein in his diet without eating so many beans. “Beans get old really fast,” said Estevan Hernandez, owner of New Mexico …
Looking to fulfill the mental and physical health needs of Southern New Mexicans, Annette Mirabal and Laura Pàez-Bruggemann created 4 Directions Integrative Mental Health LLC in Las Cruces in 2020. The pair met at New Mexico State University and later worked as social workers before coming together to create a …
Nearly 21% of New Mexico’s businesses that have employees are owned by women, according to the U.S. Census. At The Loan Fund, about 20% of the loans currently have been allocated to female entrepreneurs. In celebration of International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month, The Loan Fund highlights some of the female-owned businesses …
It’s a total hands-on approach to home building for Albuquerque couple Kenny DeLapp and Esther Frederickson. After building their own adobe home, the pair decided in February 2020 to create their own business. Albuquerque Joinery, LLC, incorporates one of the state’s longtime traditions of creating houses with adobe bricks. DeLapp …
Melissa Salazar was a manager at a Las Cruces McDonald’s when she and her father, Jaime Salazar, an executive chef at the Holiday Inn, took over La Nueva Casita Café, a Mexican restaurant in the historic Mesquite District in 2005. “My brother was driving through the neighborhood and saw the …
The print and graphic design shop grew out of a home-based business created in 2010 after Evelyn Reyes quit her job at Savers and wanted to use her graphic design skills. When Reyes left Mexico to move to Las Cruces with her husband, Agustin, she put her career aside but …
It was a desire to have their own private practice and bring much-needed collaborative services to Belen, a small town of 7,400 about 30 miles south of Albuquerque. Jennifer Tafoya-Trujillo, M.S., PA-C, who grew up in Belen, and Cassandra Otero, PA-C, who grew up in Los Lunas, both were in …
During Native American Heritage Month, The Loan Fund is featuring some of its Indigenous clients who have steadily grown their businesses over the years. The Loan Fund is one of the few lenders in New Mexico that provide capital and lines of credit to Native Americans as many commercial banks …
