By Victoria Brito Morales

BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS – The doors are finally open.

After years in the making, the eBridge Center now has a permanent home in downtown Brownsville, in the former La Casa del Nylon at 1304 E. Adams St.

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Entrepreneurship and Commercialization Center (ECC) hosted the grand opening on Thursday at the newly renovated location. Construction began in summer 2021, and the ECC along with partners at the Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation moved in last month.

The eBridge Center was created in collaboration with the City of Brownsville, UTRGV, the Lower Rio Grande Valley Economic Development Council, and the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA), to support the economic development of South Texas with a focus on scalable businesses.

Dr. Janna Arney, UTRGV executive vice president and provost, said creation of the faciltity was a labor of love between UTRGV and BCIC, with support from the city, the EDA and the development council.

“The state-of-the-art facility is designed to provide a collaborative workspace for entrepreneurs, small businesses, inventors and investors to come together to transform their ideas into reality with cutting edge technology, world-class resources and a vibrant community of life,” Arney said.

But the work set forward by the development team is just beginning, Arney said. Now, the community must act.                                                                                 

“It's our turn to move this to the next level encourage businesses and entrepreneurs to take advantage of these resources,” she said. “We don't want to be the best kept secret. We want to be the best known. So please, make sure that you're spreading the word of the great work that can happen here and the jumpstart this can provide for so many. These are exciting times and opening the building is really just the beginning. It’s the future of the RGV.”

The purpose of the eBridge Center for Business & Commercialization is to be the "entrepreneurial bridge" for startups and legacy businesses to grow and commercialize their service or product on a larger scale. The project will foster the next stage of entrepreneurs, preparing them with the skills and resources they need to gain visibility, access capital, and create jobs and commercial growth.

Linda Ufland, director of Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Commercialization at UTRGV, said the eBridge Center focuses on business incubation and entrepreneurial development conversation.

“We do acceleration innovation,” she said, “and all the services will be available here at eBridge for the region.”

Now, the resources exist to have an immediate economic impact by contributing to a thriving and healthy economy with an opportunity for job creation, Ufland said.

“This center will provide opportunities for UTRGV students to participate in internships and experiential learning activities,” she said.

Currently, there are 15 members of the eBridge incubation that have access to the center’s co-working spaces, conference rooms, training rooms and resources. The idea is to promote networking and collaboration so synergy can occur among entrepreneurs.

“The team that we have at the ECC is very knowledgeable,” Ufland said. “We do a lot of market research, of course, so we look at all of that to see if it’s feasible and if there's opportunity there.”

EXCITED LOCAL ENTREPRENEURS

In 2015, Daniel Arizpe and Joey Martinez founded Brownsville’s first brewery, Pluton Brewing Company, in Arizpe’s childhood home on Calle Pluton in West Brownsville. With resources from the UTRGV ECC, the business has expanded to a location at 805 E. Elizabeth St. in Brownsville.

“eBridge helped facilitate Pluton Brewing Company to acquire the funds needed to help us open right here in downtown Brownsville,” Arizpe said. “This center will allow businesses such as ourselves that have no experience. We're completely green to opening a business, but the eBridge center at UTRGV has been huge help. They provided resources that we were completely unaware were available to us.”

The team completed the seven-week UTRGV ECC Kaufman FastTrac program, which provides the tools to develop a business concept, determine the viability of the business concept and outline critical steps to a successful launch. They are now members of eBridge.

Arizpe said Pluton Brewing Company received two grants from BCIC, a Startup Texas grant and the Business Improvement & Growth, BIG Grants. Both helped accelerate the growth of the brewery, and the team at the UTRGV ECC helped the brewery owners with the grant application process.

The new brewery location is expected to be open to the public later this year.

Business partners Robert Escobedo, Gustav Holmes and Christian Nevarez attended the eBridge grand opening to celebrate with their fellow local entrepreneurs. Escobedo and Holmes are alums of UTRGV legacy institution UT Brownsville, and together founded Arsenal Design and Development. 

In 2019, they partnered with Nevarez and Juan Flores, owners of Terras Urban Mexican Kitchen, with the goal to expand the space and provide a unique dining experience in downtown Brownsville. In 2021, the team opened Brownsville’s first ramen restaurant, Kuyashii Ramen, located just a block away from eBridge.

Escobedo said he hopes to utilize the center’s resources to help support his businesses in downtown Brownsville.

“We have received grants from the BCIC, and they've been very helpful. They have awarded those grants to help us expand the services that we provide at our businesses,” Escobedo said. “I wish my fellow entrepreneurs the best of luck and my advice to them is to not to give up on their goals.”

UP NEXT

This weekend, the eBridge will participate in SXSW by attending conferences and promoting the opportunities the center provides.

The new building will be of immediate use at the end of this month. In partnership with Geekdom, San Antonio’s premiere startup community center, the eBridge Center will host a three-day workshop March 31-April 2. The free event is a Startup Bootcamp to help new, early-stage entrepreneurs in the Valley kickstart growing businesses and strengthen their networks.

To apply online, visit start.ebridgecenter.org. For more information on eBridge, visit utrgv.edu/ecc/ebridge/