The Latino Community Foundation hosted a hybrid discussion Tuesday with an all-female panel of entrepreneurs and advocates of the Latinx community at the Mexican Heritage Plaza in East San Jose to discuss inclusivity in the U.S. economy.
The Latino Community Foundation started as a grassroots, San Francisco-based organization founded in 1989 to increase workplace donations to Latinx organizations, which has since expanded to an independent statewide foundation with the largest network of Latinx philanthropists in the U.S., according to its website.
Ricardo Jara, senior communications director for the Latino Community Foundation, said more than 320 people registered online for the “El Poder Latino: Rebuilding a Just Economy for California,” panel and about 100 people stayed until the end of the event’s livestream.
Adriana Saldivar, Latino Community Foundation program manager, said she chose to host the event at the Mexican Heritage Plaza because she originally envisioned the event as a festival with street vendors and music.
Saldviar said the organization decided to host the event in person and remotely because of concerns surrounding the coronavirus pandemic.
The panelists discussed the contributions Latinx community members have made to the U.S. economy, celebrating the “power and vision” of Latina entrepreneurs and analyzing their critical roles in rebuilding the U.S. economy.
Latino Community Foundation CEO Jacqueline Martinez Garcel said Latinx individuals have contributed $2.7 trillion to the U.S. economy and are two times more likely to open a business.
She added that from 2007-17, Latinx individuals opened businesses 11% faster than their peers.
“When Latinos open a business, they open up a home,” Martinez Garcel said.
Marlene Orozco, Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative lead research analyst, was the only panelist to join the discussion remotely and presented statistics regarding Latinx entrepreneurship.
Between 2009-19, the number of Latinx business owners grew 34% compared to 1% for all U.S. business owners, according to Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative statistics.
From 2018-19, Latinx-owned businesses reported a 14% average revenue growth, outpacing the U.S. economy’s growth, according to the statistics.
Orozco said Latinx individuals are significantly less likely to get their fundings approved by national banks as the odds of loan approvals are 91% lower for Latinx.
“We have found that one way to mitigate the challenges is through a supportive business ecosystem,” Orozco said during the panel, adding that a business ecosystem is a network of individuals and organizations that work together toward shared goals to facilitate learning.
Orozco said while the statistics show Latinx entrepreneurs have a large role in the U.S. economy, white-owned businesses are more likely to have their funding needs and requests met compared to Latinx-owned businesses.
Beatriz Acevedo, panelist and SUMA Wealth chief executive officer and co-founder, said Latinx individuals need mentorship and funding access to combat economic disparities.
“It’s our community who is launching the most businesses, primarily Latinas, but Latinas are still the ones with the least access to capital and the ones who are at the very bottom of the pay gap as well,” Acevedo said.
SUMA Wealth is a financial inclusion company that takes a holistic digital media approach for the Latinx community, according to its website.
Acevedo said Latinx business owners’ demographic is the category of individuals who spend the most so funding access is critical.
She said community members need to change their mentalities from being only consumers to being both consumers and investors.
“We need to have this conversation earlier on, taking control of our economic future,” Acevedo said. “We will never have the power unless we have economic power.”
Several panelists said their connections to entrepreneurship stem from needs for a just economy and staying true to their roots.
Kimberly Gudino, panelist and Brown Issues founder, said she’s a proud daughter of her mother’s business as a street vendor.
Brown Issues is a local nonprofit advocacy group for young leaders, according to its website.
“Those people, people like my mom, made it possible for me to achieve my American dream and I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for my mom, if it was not for a micro-entrepreneur,” Gudino said. “I wouldn't be here as a first step, as a first generation college student.”
A micro-entrepreneur is defined as someone who operates a small scale entrepreneur, according to Dictionary.com.
Many of the Latinx panelists said they decided to be entrepreneurs to create opportunities for themselves.
Panelist and Greether founder Vanessa Karel said she created the Greether, a networking app for female travelers, to fill a need for people facing similar challenges.
Karel said after graduating from college, she accumulated a large amount of debt because of the lack of knowledge she had about loans and finding jobs.
Karel said as she traveled to Morocco, she wanted to find a way to network with other female travelers to feel safe, which sparked her idea to start the tech startup.
“I was like ‘I'm gonna open doors for myself’ and I went ahead and I decided if they're not gonna give me an opportunity, I'm going to create an opportunity for myself,” she said.
Adriana Saldivar said the goal was to have a “motivating panel” and she felt all the panelists had strong stories, which she hoped would call on the audience to take subsequent steps in their lives.
“Really, intrapreneurship exists in all of us at every phase,” Saldivar said.
She said when creating the event, the organization prioritized “storytelling and narrative change.”
“We need the directly [affected] people at the forefront of any conversation that we have,” Saldivar said. “Having data is good and having experts is great, but nobody knows best, and the leaders on the ground are the people that are themselves, entrepreneurs.”
