RMMFI held its first Business Idea Lab in Gunnison, CO. The program was held entirely in Spanish and was developed through a number of partnerships in the Gunnison community. The initial spark for the program came from Skyeler Smith, a graduate student atWestern Colorado University who’s MBA capstone project was to develop a diverse economic development program in Gunnison, CO. Skyeler’s personal tie to the Spanish speaking community inspired what she called the Gunnison Hispanic Incubator program, and led her and other local organizations to work with RMMFI.

“I wanted to create an effective collaboration between all of our local partners and RMMFI’s programming was fitting and the ideal organization to bring in and make the program work the way we needed it to.”

– Skyeler Smith, MBA student, Western Colorado University

This program had amazing partners who recruited us a wonderful group of entrepreneurs with much needed business for the Gunnison community. Thanks to Skyeler Smith, Western Colorado University, Colorado SBDC Region 10, the City of Gunnison, the Gunnison Chamber of Commerce, the Hispanic Affairs Project, Inmigrantes Unidos, Community Banks of Colorado, and ICELab at Western.