Writer: Ryan Gandolfo
2 min read September 2022 — With Hispanic Heritage Month officially now underway, the Hispanic business community continues to be a bright spot for economic activity in Palm Beach County.
In the United States, nearly one in four new businesses are Hispanic-owned, according to the Joint Economic Committee Hispanic Entrepreneurship and Business Brief. The 4.65 million Hispanic-owned businesses in the country add $800 billion to the U.S. economy annually.
“There are over 10,000 Hispanic businesses in Palm Beach County, and that’s something that needs to be brought to the forefront so we can support, and continue to support, the Hispanic community,” Maria Antuña, president of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of the Palm Beaches, told WPTV earlier this year. “It’s our time to let everyone know we’re here. We’re growing.”
The Hispanic population in Palm Beach County has increased by 20% over the past 10 years and makes up 23.5% of the county population, according to state census data.
Hispanic leaders have become a staple across the public and private sectors, from banking to education. Nelson Hinojosa, president and CEO of Palm Beach Gardens-headquartered Anchor Bank, views the diversity as an asset for the region.
“This is a country of immigrants and we’re always seeing more people from different places. We truly feel that different banks need to make sure they develop specialized business models for all these different cultures,” Hinojosa told Invest:.
Hinojosa, the first elected Florida Bankers Association director of Bolivian descent, noted the opportunity that Latinos bring to the business community.
“This is one of the reasons we tend to focus on the Hispanic community, which continues to grow at a very fast rate, both in Palm Beach and Broward,” said Hinojosa.
In the 2021 State of Latino Entrepreneurship report, published by the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Latinos were attributed with starting businesses at a much faster rate than their counterparts — 44% growth in the last 10 years compared to 4% for non-Latinos.
Organizations such as the Hispanic Entrepreneur Initiative (HEI) in Palm Beach have played an important role in supporting female Hispanic entrepreneurs in industries ranging from technology to professional services and manufacturing. Through their programs, HEI has trained more than 1,000 entrepreneurs annually — 98% of which were women, according to their Impact Report.
Resources like HEI will continue to play an integral part in the growth of the Hispanic business community. Similarly, Sandra Marin Ruiz, regional director of Florida SBDC at FAU, works with small businesses across industries to help them lay a foundation in the Sunshine State.
“Florida has been attractive for many reasons; one is the close location to Central America, the Caribbean and Latin America and for the connection, we have with their SBDC networks. A lot of businesses coming to the United States tend to locate in South Florida and our SBDC at FAU is a friendly resource to start navigating the business journey in the U.S. We work with local governments helping us to explain what their cities offer, and with grassroots organizations on the pre-venture training,” Ruiz told Invest:. “One example is the partnership with the College of Business at FAU. Together, it supported a cohort of 17 companies from Chile SBDC “soft landing” due to our regional collaborative network of partners for business attraction.
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