Central Texas Electric Cooperative (CTEC) is deepening its commitment to Hill Country communities by sponsoring Hill Country Venture Fest and the Incubator EDU program in Fredericksburg, where high school students develop real businesses and pitch them to community members. The initiative, highlighted in a recent episode of The Building Texas Show, underscores how an electric cooperative serving 11 counties is investing in the next generation of local entrepreneurs.
In the episode, Inside VentureFest: How CTEC Powers Hill Country Student Pitches, host Justin McKenzie speaks with CTEC CEO Tachi Hinojosa about why the cooperative supports student ventures. Hinojosa notes that many students join to build public speaking skills and prepare as if venture capitalists were ready to invest. Sometimes the funding is real: the first-place team last year in Fredericksburg won $12,000, and another team raised over $100,000 at a Fredericksburg Chamber of Commerce banquet after impressing attendees with their presentation.
The co-op's involvement extends beyond the pitch stage. CTEC has expanded 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, exposing students to careers beyond line crews, including member services, engineering, human resources, accounting, and IT. Hinojosa points to Brodie Smith, who toured CTEC at 16, shadowed the operations department, completed a summer internship, was hired full time as a groundman, and at about 19 is now an Apprentice Lineman I—a clear example that not every career path requires a college degree.
Hinojosa, a Texas A&M business graduate who began in the co-op world through a 2003 marketing internship and moved to the Hill Country in 2022, emphasizes that 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 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.
McKenzie raises a challenge familiar to rural Texas: talented graduates leave for college or careers and rarely return. Hinojosa sees Hill Country Venture Fest and Incubator EDU as part of the answer, giving students who want to stay the tools to build a business in the Hill Country and contribute to the local economy. "When you call Central Texas Electric Co-op, you're calling the Hill Country," he says, adding that being local is the advantage of the cooperative business model.
The full conversation is available on The Building Texas Show website, which publishes new episodes weekly on YouTube and major podcast platforms. For readers in the Hill Country and beyond, the story illustrates how a local utility can leverage its resources to nurture entrepreneurship, retain talent, and strengthen community ties—a model that other rural cooperatives might consider as they seek to support economic development and workforce readiness.
