Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month With a Focus on Entrepreneurship

Each year, Americans observe National Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15 to October 15, by celebrating the histories, cultures and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America.

The observation started in 1968 as Hispanic Heritage Week under President Lyndon Johnson and was expanded by President Ronald Reagan in 1988 to cover a 30-day period starting on September 15 and ending on October 15. It was enacted into law on August 17, 1988, on the approval of Public Law 100–402.

The day of September 15 is significant because it is the anniversary of independence for Latin American countries Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. In addition, Mexico and Chile celebrate their independence days on September 16 and September18, respectively.

Promoting Entrepreneurship to the Hispanic Community

Yesterday, I shared a recent experience about Acceler8Success Group President, Erik Premont’s participation in an all “Spanish” panel at Franchise Expo South in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

To clarify an often misunderstood point, Erik reminded me Hispanic and Latino are often used interchangeably though they actually mean two different things. Hispanic refers to people who speak Spanish or are descended from Spanish-speaking populations, while Latino refers to people who are from or descended from people from Latin America. Nevertheless, it’s typical to see either of the terms used to describe business ownership by these groups.

Further, he reminded me that Portuguese and French are also spoken in some Latin American communities — two languages that he is fluent in speaking and understanding to go along with Spanish, Italian, German, Russian, and of course, English.

Erik is also quite knowledgeable about the various cultures associated with these languages. He often tells me, it’s not only what is being said, but how it’s being said, and in the context of the person’s country of origin.

Read the article, Hispanic Entrepreneurship Front & Center at Franchise Expo South here.

Several times, I have also shared our participation in The Hispanic Entrepreneur Initiative with Michael Dermer and The Lonely Entrepreneur. The basis of this initiative, is for organizations to sponsor a certain number of Hispanic entrepreneurs who will receive free access to The Lonely Entrepreneur Learning Community — a one stop shop for the knowledge, tools and support a current or aspiring Hispanic entrepreneur needs to start or grow a business.

Learn more about The Hispanic Entrepreneur Initiative here.

Spearheaded by Erik Premont, Acceler8Success Group has committed to expand its efforts to drive Hispanic entrepreneurship and what better time than to accelerate these efforts during Hispanic Heritage Month.

Our goal is to continue to assist Hispanics (and Latinos) in achieving the American Dream of business ownership whether via franchising or business acquisition. In addition, we are also focused on assisting current Hispanic entrepreneurs bring their concepts to the United States.

According to the Joint Economic Committee Hispanic Entrepreneurship and Business Brief:

• Nearly one in four new businesses is Hispanic-owned.
• The nearly 5 million Hispanic-owned businesses in the United States contribute more than $800 billion to the American economy annually.
• There are more than 300,000 Hispanic-owned, employer businesses located across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. These enterprises employ at least one employee other than the owner.
• Hispanic employer businesses employ about 1 million workers, with more than $100 billion in annual payroll. The number of Hispanic-owned businesses that employ at least one employee other than the owner increased by 14% between 2012 and 2017 — more than twice as fast as the national average.
• In the decade preceding the pandemic, the number of Hispanic business owners increased 34% compared to an increase of just 1% among non-Hispanic business owners.

The Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative (SLEI) at Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB), in collaboration with the Latino Business Action Network (LBAN), released a report covering the latest trends in Latino entrepreneurship in the U.S.

The report highlights key areas of Latino entrepreneurship, including firmographics, financial data and employee statistics from Latino businesses and the overall ongoing effect of COVID-19 on the Latino entrepreneur community.

Key themes and findings include:

• Firm & Employee Growth: The number of Latino-owned employer firms has grown 35% in the last 10 years compared to 4.5% growth among White-owned firms. In addition, Latino-owned businesses are increasing their number of employees at a dramatically faster rate than White-owned employer businesses (55% vs. 8% since 2007).
• Tech Focus: Latino-owned businesses are as likely as White-owned businesses to be in the technology industry.
• Career Advancement: Latino business owners are more likely to provide opportunities for the growth and advancement of their employees than White business owners.
• COVID Bright Spots: Latino-owned businesses are more likely to make proactive, strategic business changes to mitigate the negative challenges of the pandemic.

September 14th is Support Latino Business Day, recognizing & celebrating the economic contributions of Latino-owned businesses.

Our Commitment

We want to do our part to both encourage and assist all the hardworking Hispanic and Latino business owners as well as the many individuals who want to own their own business. You’re all essential to our society and economic growth. So, keep thriving because we believe in everything you offer and we want to help you reach your business goals.

For more information about our resources, plans and programs, as well as the Hispanic Entrepreneur Initiative, please reach out to me or Erik Premont on LinkedIn. Or, if you prefer, please send either of us an email to Paul@Acceler8Success.com or Erik@Acceler8Success.com. We look forward to helping to make a difference for Hispanic & Latino Entrepreneurs everywhere.

Hablamos español. On parle français. A gente fala português.

As our focus is always on connecting the right people, brands and opportunities, we can help you… and we want to help you.

Have a great day. make it happen. make it count!