SOLE Gala and Alumni Summit 2024

My dear friend and BHAG group leader Alejandra Chavez said it best: “Nadie se quiere ir! No one wants to leave!” And she was right.?

Being in the room with fellow alumni of the Latino Business Action Network Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative program is a unique experience. There we reconnected with each other.? Met new friends, exchanged ideas and dreams, as well as challenges regardless of the industry and time zones where we operate. The group included successful founders, owners, executives, advocates, allies, and partners.? We were energized and encouraged by the recent findings in the ninth annual State of Latino Entrepreneurship report, which was published and presented at the SOLE event held at the CEMEX auditorium this past Wednesday March 27. Watch me and some VIPs on this video .

https://youtu.be/S4ES74zWPNM

Dr. Barbara Gomez-Aguinaga presented the findings to an audience of over 1000 guests, many of whom had to be in overflow rooms at the Stanford campus.? You can read the report here and watch the recording of the event here .

This year, the report included a deeper look into Latina owned business as well as technology centric businesses, and immigrant entrepreneurs.?

These are the areas that the report highlighted and I would like to bring awareness to:

Latina owned businesses are starting employer business at a faster rate than their male LOB’s, they are facing challenges like lower revenues and profits, smaller contracting opportunities from governments and corporations, and when trying to access capital they experience the lowest approval rates on business loans from both national and local banks.?

Tech centric businesses owned by Latino have challenges in liquidity, access to financing, and contracting hurdles.?

Immigrant LOBs operate within consumer-facing industries, with accommodations and food services being a top industry, but the longer the LOB owner has been in the country, and for subsequent generations, the less likely they are to operate in those industries/services.?

This is an area that is deeply relevant to me, as a Salvadoran immigrant, and mother to three U.S. born children.? As proud as I am to be in the Transportation, Warehousing, Moving, Modular Systems Installation space, not only as a worker but as a company owner and employer, trade and industry advocate and property owner (trucks, land, buildings, equipment), I want my children to have access to different opportunities.

Would I love to pass on the torch to my little Zelda, absolutely! But she is interested in space and engineering, and even as an eight year old she talks about her plans to open a "Zelda Moving Company", but also "Zelda Construction Company", but only after she returns from her 9 to 5 job at NASA.?

The SOLE report highlights the upward, social and economic mobility that investing in Latino owned businesses bring to our community. Imagine little Zelda having the ability to choose where and how she wants to work! I can imagine that, and I will do everything in my power, within my circles and within my community to see that Zelda, and other women have that opportunity.

There are other points that I encourage you to explore in the report. Because pictures are great, but we really need more business, more government and corporate contracting opportunities, more financing (yes, that means Equipment Loans, Lines of credit, access to mortgages so we can buy the land/buildings, credit cards etc.) and more non-dilutive financing vehicles too.?

And while we are at it, when you do matchmaking events, let’s set the bar a little higher and track the actual dollars, actual contracts that result from these events so they are more than just a photo op that your marketing department will use on Hispanic (or fill in the blank) month.?

• 4.7 million LOBs in America, with 463,000 of them being employer firms generating $664 billion in annual revenues and employing 3.5 million workers?

• Faster growth revenue, number of businesses, employees, and payroll.

• Growth and scalability such as limited access to financing, vulnerabilities in cash liquidity, and constrained access to contracting opportunities

• 23% of White entrepreneurs own employer businesses, compared to 10% among Latino/a entrepreneurs. Only 7% of White entrepreneurs are currently employer businesses generating $1M or more in annual revenue, compared to less than 3% among Latino/a entrepreneurs.

• Between 2007 and 2022, the annual payroll of LOBs more than doubled (123% increase).

• LOBs and WOBs track closely in their awareness of AI technologies to enhance their business operations, scaled LOBs –those generating $1M or more in annual revenue– are leading at the implementation of AI technologies.

• LOBs use a wider array of marketing technologies than WOBs to sell their services and products, including social media, email marketing, and search engine optimization. These trends show that the incorporation of technologies and adaptable business strategies among LOBs go beyond AI technologies

• LOBs face hurdles that impact their ability to grow and sustain successful firms such as lower business health metrics, lack of access to financing from local and national banks, and substantive gaps in government contracts.?

• Female LOBs seek government contracts at lower rates than their peer businesses, with only 7% of female LOBs actively pursuing government contracts, compared to 13% for male WOBs, 12% for male LOBs, and 9% for female WOBs.?

• Among businesses that experienced delays in payments from government contracts, LOBs –particularly tech-centric LOBs– were the most negatively affected. The most significant impact of government contract delays for tech-centric LOBs is their reduced capacity to expand their workforce (52%). In contrast, the primary issue for tech-centric WOBs is managing cash flow (43%).

Interested in learning more about LBAN and their research and scaling programs? Connect with me, I would love to introduce you to their team!