A new study by the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative found that while the total number of U.S. businesses declined between 2007 and 2012, the number of Latino-owned businesses spiked by 46%. Latinos are driving small business growth in America with nearly one in four Latino households owning a business. That’s the good news. The challenge is that the overwhelming number of Latino-owned businesses start small and stay small. In fact, only 3% of Latino-owned businesses generate at least $1 Million per year in gross revenue. Companies typically can scale if they have knowledge and capital to do so. One of the more interesting findings in the study is that 77% of Latino businesses that generate more than a million dollars per year are part of a business organization as compared to only 35% for smaller firms. Networking and mentorship seem to be the key to business growth in the Latino sector. This should not be a surprise. As a young entrepreneur in the mortgage business, I used to say that I didn’t have an uncle who owned a community bank. Ernie Reyes and I formed NAHREP in part to address that issue by creating a platform where Latino entrepreneurs could congregate, exchange ideas, and form partnerships. That original idea is still part of our mission statement today.
Next week, I will be speaking at a Hispanic Leadership Summit at the United Nations. I was asked to speak on the topic of Unity. The following is a preview of my speech.
The image of Latinos is not just a nice thought; it affects everything from business opportunities and access to capital to how our children are treated at school. Latinos are among the hardest workers and most entrepreneurial of any group in America. However, negativity has dominated the narrative about Latinos for far too long. This one is on us.
We currently have 11 million unfilled jobs in America. Ending illegal immigration will either dramatically increase that number and have massive disruption to our economy, or we will have to...