Central Texas Electric Cooperative's backing of Hill Country Venture Fest and the Incubator EDU program in Fredericksburg is more than a sponsorship; it is a deliberate strategy to grow local entrepreneurs and keep talent in rural Texas. The cooperative, which serves 11 Hill Country counties, gives high school students a platform to build real businesses and pitch them to community members who may invest real money. In a conversation on Inside VentureFest: How CTEC Powers Hill Country Student Pitches, CTEC CEO Tachi Hinojosa told host Justin McKenzie that the stakes are higher than a classroom exercise. The first-place team in Fredericksburg last year won $12,000, and another team raised more than $100,000 at a Fredericksburg Chamber of Commerce banquet because attendees were so impressed with their presentation.
The implications reach beyond individual student wins. McKenzie raised a challenge familiar to rural Texas: talented graduates leave for college or careers and rarely return. Hinojosa sees the venture festival and incubator as part of the answer, because they give students who want to stay the tools to build a business in the Hill Country and contribute to the local economy. That matters for workforce development and economic diversification in a region where outmigration of young people can drain communities of future leaders and business owners.
The co-op's interest in students extends well past the pitch stage. CTEC opened its summer internship program to high school and college students, growing from one student in the first year to six this past year. The co-op also invites high schools to tour its facilities so students can see careers beyond the line crews they recognize, including member services, engineering, human resources, accounting and IT. Hinojosa pointed to Brodie Smith, who toured CTEC at 16, shadowed the operations department, worked a summer internship, was hired full time as a groundman and, at about 19, is now an Apprentice Lineman I. Smith's path illustrates that not every career requires a college degree, a message with real weight in communities where four-year degrees are often framed as the only route to success.
Hinojosa, a Texas A&M business graduate who started in the co-op world through a 2003 marketing internship and moved to the Hill Country in 2022, said community service is built into the cooperative model through the principle of concern for community. CTEC employees serve on volunteer fire departments and coach youth sports, and after the co-op challenged staff to log their volunteer time, they reached 1,000 hours last year. Line crews and technicians have also helped local nonprofits set up and tear down tables and chairs for fundraisers. That embedded local presence is the advantage Hinojosa describes when he says, "When you call Central Texas Electric Cooperative, you're calling the Hill Country."
The broader significance is a model for rural economic development that starts with teenagers. By funding pitch competitions, offering internships and opening facilities to schools, CTEC is building a pipeline from classroom to career and from idea to local enterprise. The full conversation is available on The Building Texas Show.
