As Hispanic Heritage Month comes to a close, Next Street wanted to live into our Small Business First value and recognize the contributions of Hispanic small businesses. In communities of color across the country, entrepreneurship is perhaps the most powerful economic mobility tool. Hispanic business owners represent 14.5% of all businesses. They are one of the fastest growing sectors of the small business economy with 82% of all startups being launched by Hispanics, which is three times the national average. We’re highlighting Hispanic small businesses to showcase their pivotal role in shaping the broader economy.
One key segment among successful Hispanic small businesses is the family business. To better understand the keys to their success, we sat down with two multigenerational small businesses in one of Next Street’s key markets, Los Angeles County: Adriana Cortes of Delicious at the Dunbar and Rafael Ortiz Jr. of Ortiz Jr. Auto Repair.
While much is written about the myriad challenges faced by Hispanics and other entrepreneurs of color, we do not spend enough time understanding and appreciating how they leverage their identity to set goals for and operate their businesses. Thus, we focused our conversations on how these entrepreneurs have used their racial identity as well as all of the other identities they possess as assets in their entrepreneurial journey. Several themes from the conversations emerged around community building, wealth creation, and quality jobs, which are important aspects of why small businesses are critical in both the economy and in transforming local ecosystems.
The powerful testimonies of these two entrepreneurs demonstrate how the entrepreneurial spirit is transforming communities and why it’s important to continue uplifting and supporting small businesses, particularly those owned by Hispanics and other People of Color. Please check out highlights from our incredible conversations below.
