UTRGV is working to bring more businesses to the Rio Grande Valley from Mexico.

It’s part of a new program — Soft Landing by UTRGV ECC — that helps grow new start-ups from abroad.

Starting in November, foreign small businesses in the fields of technology, health, food and professional services can apply to join a 10-week online training program and head into the program, so businesses are ready to do business in the U.S.

“We have heard some stories from our entrepreneurs that they've connected with the wrong people, so they're taken advantage of,” UTRGV Entrepreneurship and Commercialization Center Director Linda Ufland said.

Mexican business owner Agustín Martínez said he applied to, and was awarded $40,000 from the Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation for his business.

The corporation is getting help from the university. 

“The more business are able to establish themselves here, the more opportunity there is for those to seek employment,” Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation Director Nathan Burkhart said.

UTRGV’s entrepreneurship center offers dozens of programs, including those with business ideas in the Rio Grande Valley, with experts ready to help.

More information is available online.

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