Latina Entrepreneurs Growing and Powerful
The self-employment rate of foreign-born Hispanic women twice exceeded that of U.S.-born Hispanic women (11.5 percent compared to 5.3 percent), making foreign-born Hispanic women one of the fastest growing entrepreneurial populations in the U.S!!!
Despite the fact that Latina entrepreneurship is on the rise, there has been little research done in this area, hardly any government support and I am not at this time aware of ANY corporate initiatives developed specifically for the needs of Latina entrepreneurs. There is no data on the success rate of these Latina businesses or in what business classification they are focused on, or where geographically these businesses are concentrated.
Sounds like there is a tremendous need to fill. Imagine the untapped economic potential of Latina entrepreneurs!!!
We must consider fostering Latina entrepreneurship as an economic issue, not an ethnic or gender-equity based issue. Simply put we are missing a big chunk of this countrys business power and potential.
Great but what kind of support is there out there now?
Besides the SBA and the Startup America Partnership, consider joining an incubator or accelerator program in your area, surprisingly not all of these are for the tech sector.
If you are considering starting a new business or expanding an early stage business, it is a good strategy to get into one of these programs because studies show that start-up ventures that graduate from an incubation or accelerator program have a success rate of 87%, compared to 44% for all other firms – those are big numbers that cannot be ignored.
While there are no incubators specifically targeted to Latinas, Metro Tech in Oklahoma City, OK specifically targets Hispanic business. You can also go to the National Business Incubator Association page and find a business incubator in your area.
