MBDA Program

Through a collaboration with The Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce, WESST, New Mexico State University's Arrowhead Center, The New Mexico Black Chamber of Commerce, and other local partners that will provide training as well as event and consulting services.

The MBDA Center is a joint effort between the Economic Development Department (EDD) and the U.S. Department of Commerce Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA). Through a collaboration with The Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce, WESST, New Mexico State University's Arrowhead Center, and other local partners that will provide training as well as event and consulting services.

Are you a business which:

has operations in New Mexico?
has over $500,000 a year in revenue and growing fast?
would like to conduct business with the government?
is looking for support in navigating access to capital and looking for training?

Contact the MBDA Center of New Mexico!

Learn more on our website!

The Albuquerque MBDA Business Center is critically important for small businesses:

It provides a formalized, structured avenue for the City to assist local businesses through COVID-19 hardships, with emphasis on tangible solutions to systematic racial inequities in economic opportunity.
It furthers the Economic Development Department's (EDD's) ongoing efforts to build the economy which includes a strategic focus on small businesses owned by minorities.
It exemplifies EDD'S recognition that economic development in high-growth business sectors are typically regional, not limited to a single city.
It supports the City's "grow from within" economic model, focusing on developing an inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem, supporting growth of local businesses, and building upon existing assets and strengths.

Meet the Team:

Gabriela Marques, Director

gmarques@nmmbda.com
505.376.7823

Gabriela is a passionate champion for disadvantaged, small, and minority businesses. She brings her expertise in business development, program implementation, and commercial lending throughout New Mexico to her role as Director of the Albuquerque MBDA Business Center. Gabriela previously worked for seven years at DreamSpring, an award-winning microfinance organization. As market manager and senior loan officer, she led the lending team in New Mexico and Nevada, removing barriers to access to capital and developing strategic partnerships. Born and raised in Brazil, she moved to California to pursue her university studies and then fell in love with New Mexico close to a decade ago. Gabriela received her bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and has a master’s degree in International Affairs from the University of California, San Diego.

Sofia Bajana - Project Manager

sbajana@nmmbda.com

505.397.0674

Sofia is a firm believer in local talent and minority businesses, bringing experience developing and implementing business strategic plans for small and medium-sized organizations. She has an MBA from Anderson School of Management and experience in the E-commerce Marketing arena overseeing product optimization, customer experience analytics, and recommendations on increasing sales and new customer acquisition. Her previous experience in Ecuador gave her the ability to connect with people and help them succeed. She helped small companies to introduce their products to the marketplace, improve their production processes, complying with all the required public policies.

Daniel Martinez - Business Advisor

dmartinez@nmmbda.com

505.356.3788

Daniel, an Albuquerque native, has a diverse business background: sales & marketing, business development, operations, financial management, and Business Consultant. Much of his career was spent developing international markets in Latin America – building infrastructures from raw markets to support global strategies. His entrepreneurial insights and operations experience were leveraged for several projects by The Coca-Cola Company. Since returning to Albuquerque in 2006, he has mentored (General Manager) an energy technology startup (JV with Sealed Air, Inc.) and now manages his consulting firm, Puye Analytical LLC. He is a graduate of the University of New Mexico with a Bachelor’s in Chemistry and a Master of Science in Chemical Engineering.

Michael Silva, Business Advisor

msilva@nmmbda.com
505.376.7824

Mike Silva previous work history includes working as a Senior Project Manager for the New Mexico Small Business Development Center, Director of Public Works for the Pueblo of Jemez, President of his own consulting company, EnFrente Inc. and served as president of the Rio Grande Educational Collaborative 2000-2012, a non-profit educational services organization that he founded. He retired from Public Service Company of NM as Director of Corporate Quality in 2002 after 30 years’ service at PNM. He is a graduate of the University of New Mexico with a major in business.