Moneda Moves (115): 2022 State of Latino Entrepreneurship TODAY
Lately, mi gente, we’ve been thinking about how it’s been two years — two years since we started working through a worldwide health crisis.
Make no mistake, many folks have in fact been working through the pandemic. Because even though “Great Resignation” headlines continue to make the news, what we are observing here is a landscape where employees are also juggling or leaving for duties at home, mental health, to build their own business endeavors, while others do resign for new opportunities.
To that end, it’s also important to note that especially as of reports at the end of 2021, Latinas are leading the Great Resignation — here’s a great article from journalist Janel Martinez who documented stories from sources themselves and how Latinas changed their approach to work mid-pandemic.
We know Latinos have been a force in the American economy and that their entrepreneurship drive is one to be reckoned with, so we’re eager to hear that a new report on our community’s entrepreneurship landscape will be released today by the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Latino Business Action Network. The silver lining of being in a remote world is the summit is fully virtual, and available to all. You can find registration for the 7th Annual State of Latino Entrepreneurship Forum here. We’re looking forward to discussing in depth next week!
All this said, if you’re feeling tired even though we’ve turned the page on a new year, we’re there with you! What we’re doing to carve our path forward? Leaning into things that fuel and preserve us. For us that means: community, daily physical-mental rituals and setting boundaries. And with that, thank you as always for being a part of this community.
Con poder,
Lyanne
Headlines to put on your radar.
Strengths and challenges Latino-owned companies face: In the State of Latino Entrepreneurs Report to be released today, more than 15,000 business owners are counted into the survey, half of which are Latino. Specifically, this report will bring attention to the pandemic and how businesses weathered the crisis, plus sentiment moving forward and what to expect in years to come. Some top level findings from the report include:
PPP funding was an important resource for Latino-owned businesses during the pandemic.
During the pandemic, Latinos more often tapped into their personal savings and max out credit cards out of necessity.
Optimism in the community is high about being able to come back post-pandemic
Latino-founded startups account for only 2 percent of venture investments in last year: While venture funding to Latino-founded companies has grown, it is still only two percent of total funding. While startups in Latin America have gained more than $15 billion in capital, US Latino-led startups are not facing the same kind of reality.
“The proof is in the data,” Alejandro Guerrero, who is part of VCFamilia and LatinxVC advocacy groups says. “There just aren’t enough people investing in these communities.”
To this end, the following statement was also released by a choir of advocacy groups this week — in response to Crunchbase data reflecting poor funding of early stage US Latinx-led companies:
Rising voices in business, fintech, entrepreneurship and beyond.
Why quitting appears to be contagious and how people are doing it: That’s not the exact title of this New York Times article, but it summarizes the sentiment of it. Per Labor Department data, more than 4.5 million people left their jobs by choice in November, a record high in two decades of tracking. In this piece, the reporter explores how quitting a job can become contagious and why people are doing it and for what alternatives. Among the answers? Benefits, compensation, career opportunity and flexibility.
A few of the lead stories within the article were Latinas who founded their own businesses and programs, might I add. It’s absolutely worth a read.
Thank you for joining us! Until next week, catch us here on Moneda Moves.