BCIC Celebrates Brownsville’s Entrepreneurial Spirit with the first-ever RGV Startup Week

PRESS RELEASE – Brownsville, Texas – Thursday, Feb 8 2024 – The Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation (BCIC) proudly announces the first-ever RGV Startup Week. This entire week of educational events, interactive experiences, and hands-on resources is the perfect opportunity for aspiring entrepreneurs and business owners to ignite their passion and explore their potential. From May 3 through May 10, this free and open to the public event is being hosted in the heart of Brownsville to showcase the innovation and business growth potential the regional community has to offer.

RGV Startup Week brings together aspiring entrepreneurs, business leaders, and the communities from the Rio Grande Valley to engage in a series of dynamic events. Highlights include an open pitch competition, a platform for emerging startups to showcase their ideas with seed funding awards for the winners. Moreover, due to its success in the past, the eBridge Center for Business and Commercialization, in partnership with Geekdom, will provide an intensive business training session through its Startup Bootcamp program.

A unique feature of RGV Startup Week 2024 is its focus on local talent. Interactive experiences and demonstrations by established and emerging businesses will showcase the region's capabilities and foster community pride and cohesion. These activities are designed to bring founders and supporters closer, offering a genuinely immersive entrepreneurial networking experience.

The eBridge Center, Brownsville's hub for innovation, and Downtown Brownsville have been selected as the epicenter of RGV Startup Week 2024. The event aims to highlight the virtues of the community, and its team is issuing an open invite to local leaders and industry experts to contribute their insights and skills through workshops, keynotes, or master classes. This will help enrich the event's learning environment with the vision and expertise only a true local can bring.

Cori Peña, President & CEO of BCIC, remarks, “RGV Startup Week marks a significant stride in bringing our vision of Brownsville to life—a vibrant center for business, innovation, and community well-being. We’re excited to have numerous community members actively participate, turning this into a collective endeavor. This platform will provide valuable insights, networking opportunities, and resources that can catalyze the growth of startups, fostering innovation and community engagement."

Nathan Burkhart, Vice President of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, emphasizes, "This inaugural event marks a significant moment in Brownsville's journey. We’re opening up the invitation to the Rio Grande Valley and beyond. Entrepreneurs, business owners, and the general public are welcome to come and experience something never seen before in our region."

We invite everyone to sign up to receive news about the agenda as soon it becomes available or sign up as attendees, speakers, or volunteers by visiting http://www.rgvstartup.com. Join us in a week-long celebration of innovation, collaboration, and the entrepreneurial spirit at RGV Startup Week.

For more information, please contact BCIC Director of Marketing and Communications, Nelson Amaro, at namaro@bcic.us