To These Shrewd Business Owners, Being Latino Is a Huge Advantage

As President Trump sends another 5,000 troops to the Southern border to help fend off a caravan of asylum seekers, you might think being Latino in America would be something of a handicap. But you'd be wrong.

"I use the fact that I'm Brazilian, that I'm [Latina] to my benefit," says Junea Rocha, co-founder and CEO of Brazi Bites, a line of Brazilian cheese-bread snacks based in Portland, Oregon, and No. 219 on the Inc. 5000. For her, being a Latina woman gives her the ability to stand out from a sea of white males--a common sight when she goes to sales meetings--and has allowed her to grow her company's annual revenue from over half a million dollars in 2014 to more than $12.9 million last year.

Read full article

Number of Hispanic owned businesses doubles

TUCSON, AZ (Tucson News Now) -The Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce released its fifth annual edition of the DATOS Tucson report on Oct. 6. According to a release, the report provides an overview of the state of the Hispanic market in southern Arizona, as well as statewide and nationally.

"Tucson and southern Arizona are vital to Arizona's overall economic prosperity, especially as it relates to our fast-growing partnership with Mexico," said Gonzalo A. de la Melena, Jr., President and CEO of the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. "We're proud to deliver the message that Arizona's future is inextricably linked to the economic health of its exploding Hispanic population."

The release states the number of Hispanic-owned business have doubled statewide 2007, while the number of Latina-owned businesses has tripled.

Read full article