Latinos are now the largest minority population to start small businesses in the US.
This is because Latin American and Hispanic entrepreneurs are resilient. It is part of our DNA. We come from countries that experience continuous crises, so we are experts in adapting and starting over again.
As proof, it is enough to see how entrepreneurs have relaunched their products with new ideas and rethought their businesses to digitize them in record time.
Entrepreneurs understand two truths about what is happening:
- COVID-19 is not going to stop us. It only alters the plans that we had drawn up.
- The best weapon we have to face the economic crisis is to stay together (with a healthy distance) and support each other.
Business has just one language, one culture, regardless of the industry and the personal background of its owners (gender, race, creed, etc.) In business, people must speak the language of discipline and perseverance.
According to the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, in 2018, 4.4 million Latino-owned businesses in the US contributed more than $700 billion to the economy. In addition, based on the US Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy, roughly 1.2 million business owners in the United States are immigrant Hispanics.
In fact, the Harvard Business Review reported that immigrants from all over the world constitute 15% of the general US workforce, but they account for around a quarter of US entrepreneurs. In addition, almost half of the Hispanic-owned companies are owned by women, according to census data.
86% of immigrant-owned firms with at least $1 million in annual revenues are owned by millennials (under age 34) who came to the US as children, according to “Insights” by Stanford Business. On a larger scale, Latino immigrants are twice as likely as the native-born population to start a small business, according to the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Small Business Majority reports that DREAMers don’t shy away from entrepreneurship, either. Those protected under DACA work for small businesses and start their own small businesses in droves. In Utah, there are more than 25,000 Hispanic business owners who together are contributing more than $9.6 billion to the local economy every year.