Luring SMEs to Brownsville is the aim of a new partnership between the Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation and the Texas Manufacturing Assistance Center at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.
SME stands for “small manufacturing enterprises.” Specifically, the BCIC-TMAC workforce development partnership targets small- to medium-sized businesses that have struggled to overcome obstacles to growth, offering them business coaching and training to accelerate growth and improve the bottom line.
BCIC’s strategy is to help such businesses become more resilient and innovative, allowing them to “scale up through equitable economic development opportunities that empower the region’s human capital first,” according to the organization.
Josh Mejia, BCIC executive director, said the Valley is full of local companies that are successful enough to have created jobs and investment, but that most of them could continue to grow and reach new markets “through strategic expansion and technical assistance.”
“We firmly believe, as we continue to seek the correct partners to address these SME challenges in our region, that if we provide the necessary resources to our business owners and validate their potential, they will reach new heights,” he said.
TMAC, part of the UTRGV College of Engineering, is affiliated with the Manufacturing Extension Partnership program of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, which has centers in all 50 states and Puerto Rico.
David Ortiz, regional director of TMAC South Texas at UTRGV, said the partnership with BCIC would give local manufacturers and entrepreneurs the tools necessary to be successful and lift the local economy.
“Small- and mid-sized companies are the backbone of the U.S. economy and most do not have the same resources that big corporations do,” he said. “Our program’s goal is to ensure these businesses get the assistance they need to address their pain points and areas of opportunity.”
BCIC is a “Type B” economic development corporation funded by a quarter-cent sales tax.
