Moneda Moves (78): Funding as the biggest barrier Latino-owned businesses face 🏦
Question for you, mi gente: How much money do you think you need to retire comfortably? Now think about that yearly income you think it requires. What does it look like?
This week, we spoke with Mayra Alejandra Garcia, a money coach who is CEO and Founder of Debt-Free Latina. Mayra is joining the personal finance educator community with a speciality in working with Latina women aiming to manage their debt, investments and personal finances. She spoke dinero with us this week and about the importance about creating wealth within the Latino community. A point she drove home is that you don’t need to make six figures to do it. Read her full interview in today’s newsletter below.
Onto this week’s headlines.
Con poder,
Lyanne
Headlines to put on your radar.
Latino-owned businesses are seeing record growth, but big banks aren’t funding them 🏦: There’s a discrepancy in national bank loans of more than $100,000 obtained by Latinos, thus driving the community to more risky source of funding. Per the State of Latino Entrepreneurship 2020 research study, only 20% of Latino-owned businesses obtained funding while 50% of white-owned businesses do.
This is despite that fact that Latino businesses have grown 34% over the last decade, compared to one percent for all other small businesses. One reason Latinos get from banks is that there is a “lack of cash to service debts” and because banks won’t lend on business projections. Alternatives to national bank loans Latinos have found include sourcing from community development financial institutions and local banks. (Brandon Gomez, CNBC)
Hispanic Chamber of Commerce urges Latinos to apply for federal loans 💵: It is now a month since the next round of Paycheck Protection Loans were introduced. Chamber President and CEO Ramiro Cavazos asked that business owners be “mobilize and be aggressive in communicating with the banks and community centers offering capital and seek for the guidance they need to apply for the PPP.” (Negocios Now)
Venture fund with a mission to invest in early-stage companies led by Latinx founders kicks off scout program 🔍: VamosVentures is kicking off its 2021 Scout Program with a goal to invest in Latino & diverse founders. If that sounds like an initiative that might apply to you, here are the program’s goals:
Investment returns
Social impact through wealth creation, social mobility, and unique tech solutions
Develop a competent pipeline of Latinx and diverse venture capital investors
Learn more here. (This update was well-received, coming in from founder of debt-free financial app, Qoins, Christian Zimmerman.)
Rising voices in business, fintech, entrepreneurship and beyond.
Moneda Monday: Money Coach Mayra Alejandra Garcia 💰:
This week, we interviewed Mayra Alejandra Garcia, a money coach who is CEO and Founder of Debt-Free Latina. Through education, she hopes to help other first movers begin to manage their money.
“I saw my family live paycheck to paycheck all their life,” she said. “When I learned how to budget, I was inspired to start Debt-Free Latina.”
Read an excerpt from our Instagram Story with her below and follow our account for highlights.
What is one of the biggest issues you work with facing the Latino community?
A lot of us have credit card debt and student loan debt and I wanted to be able to create this platform…where I can share tips and tricks that will help you stay focused on you goals. The going gets tough, especially when you’re getting out of a lot of debt.
How can we best elevate middle class Latinos when it comes to personal finance?
One of the ways that we can help elevate (our community) is by teaching basic principles of personal finance and budgeting to our younger generations. Not only do I love teaching women, 18-45, but teaching them - a lot of them are mothers - giving them the tools to teach this to their children at a very young age, to start talking about money. In a lot of our families money is taboo topic, and it shouldn’t be because a lot of people in wealthy communities talk about money with their children openly and teach them how to manage it. That’s what we need to be doing with our children.
What is one of your biggest money learnings?
One of the biggest money learnings in my lifetime is that you don’t need to make six figures to live comfortably and retire with dignity. I think that is a misconception in our community: that the more you make, it’s going to make things better and it really doesn’t. It’s learning how to manage what you have now and making that go farther and creating margin between what you make and what you owe so that you can invest and create generational wealth.
Follow us on Instagram, and you will be first to our #MonedaMonday weekly series where we introduce you to Latinos who are experts in the world of money whether they are certified financial planners, business journalists, VC experts.
That’s all for this week, mi gente. See you here next week.