Latinas In Biz Blog

The following opinion by Pepperdine University Dean Linda Livingstone and Entrepreneurship Professor Larry Cox ran in this week's Los Angeles Business Journal.
Do you agree? 

Earlier this year, the Guardian Life Small Business Research Institute released an insightful report on women and small business. The research said women-owned small businesses will create an estimated 5.5 million jobs in the United States by 2018. This is roughly one-third of the 15.3 million total jobs created in that period as projected by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. It is welcome news for the economy, and especially encouraging for women who desire to start a small business.

Historically, Los Angeles has been a strong market for women business owners. According to the most recent statistics from the National Association of Women Business Owners-Los Angeles, there are an estimated 543,835 privately held companies in the area in which women own a 50 percent or greater stake. These women-majority-owned businesses account for 40.1 percent of all privately held firms, generate nearly $125 billion in annual revenue and employ more than 692,000 people.

We [Pepperdine] believe that if Los Angeles can further encourage the launching and growth of women-owned businesses, it would be a major job generator for the area. Encouraging L.A.’s small-business ownership diversifies the economy, supports the tax base, more evenly distributes economic opportunity, spurs innovation and attracts further investment from around the world.

Why will this work or not work?

 

 

By Graciela Tiscareño-Sato

How do we get America’s 50 million Latinos, our fastest-growing demographic group with $1.2+ trillion in purchasing power (and growing rapidly), on the path of environmental sustainability? Demonstrating powerful examples of Latino leaders is a great place to start.

Rodrigo Prudencio says childhood family trips throughout Bolivia and Latin America planted the seeds for a lifetime of environmental advocacy that has manifested in different professional roles.

Carmen Rad tells of how growing up on an island (Puerto Rico) made her wonder at a young age, “Where does all that waste go?” She learned about reducing waste from her mother who taught her to reuse everything and is “the greenest person I know.”

The passion that drives these Latino professionals to do right by the environment in their professional and personal lives is palpable when speaking to them. We can use these examples to create a massive ripple effect to move more of America’s Latinos down the path of sustainability.

Leading with Venture Capital

The saying about the guitar has driven Rodrigo Prudencio’s career progression. It’s a career path with environmental advocacy at the heart of everything, its roots sprouted while traveling as a child throughout Latin America. Now as a father, he’s thinking about his legacy.

Rodrigo understands that to affect real change, you need to be in a position of power. Talking about it won’t do it; policy work won’t always do it. He did policy work at the State Department and the National Wildlife Federation then decided to get closer to the action.

He focused on energy markets during his MBA program at U.C. Berkeley. He joined a start up funded by Nth Power LLC, a San Francisco-based VC firm exclusively focused on energy technologies. Nth Power has invested in start ups since 1997. The visionary founders believed there would be a convergence of deregulation of energy markets, resource constraints and improved technologies. How right they were.

Rodrigo soon became a partner at Nth Power, a big guitar in his hand. His focus is clear, “Everything I do here at Nth Power is to find companies that will lower the amount of energy that we use.”

From his professional and personal experiences, Rodrigo emphasizes, “I refuse to believe that there’s a tradeoff between a better standard of living and our ability to use resources wisely. My job with my team here is to find the entrepreneurs that will make this possible.”

Ernst & Young LLP reported the amount of venture capital invested in alternative energy sources increased by 73% in the three months ending in July 2009. When I asked about the innovation activity level he’s seeing, Rodrigo answered very positively. “There are three to four times more entrepreneurs at work now in energy-related improvements then when I started. It’s very encouraging.”

Shooting for Zero Waste in Commercial Printing

Are you getting ready to print banners for a corporate event? Have you considered how the materials and inks will be disposed of after your event?

Carmen Rad wanted to eliminate the waste associated with commercial banners with short shelf lives that end up in landfills. She and her husband (a textile expert) developed a fully biodegradable material. Then they worked with Hewlett-Packard to create a printer for eco-friendly UV inks to print on their new material. She was among the first to buy the new printer.

“I purchased a million-dollar machine and took a big risk to set an example in my industry. I’m hoping others will follow,” Carmen states.

Her commercial printing business, Los Angeles-based CR & A Custom, will print whatever your company needs and leave no waste afterwards.

For their innovation and commitment to changing the commercial printing business, her business received the “Green Firm of the Year Award” from the LA Minority Business Opportunity Committee. Carmen was also recognized as “Manufacturer of the Year” by the National Latina Women Business Association, L.A. Chapter. The little girl from Puerto Rico who once wondered where all the waste goes has grown up and is doing her part to produce less of it.

My journey to provide a snapshot of Latino participation in the American green economy uncovered the deep cultural roots of conservation with which many of us have been raised. The wisdom of our ancestors has propelled many into positions of great power to impact positive change in how we work, consume, live, run businesses, power our homes, cars and buildings.

You’ve met some of the DO-ers, those putting their money and careers where their mouths are, sometimes taking huge risks to do right by our planet. Now it’s up to us to emulate and support them as business people and consumers so they can keep up the momentum.

Given the state of the present economy, professional networking is vital to establish beneficial relationships, business opportunities, and long-lasting connections that will be important to professional and entrepreneurial growth. The Empower Me! Corporation, which debuted the Empowered Latina Network (http://www.empoweredlatina.com) two years ago, has announced a professional networking coaching program designed exclusively for Latinas. Fearless Networking for Latinas (http://www.fearlessnetworkingforlatinas.com) provides full interactive group and individual coaching programs to create fearless networkers ready to take on and succeed in the business world. The program focuses on proven methods to build you into a power brand. The program includes building self-confidence, defining and building your power brand (for your career or business), surrounding yourself with the right people for your inner circle of influence, and much more.  The program is available via live online web conference, teleconference and in person (for local clients) and is offered in several package options.

Empower Me! (http://www.empowerme.org) Founder and Networking Strategist, Adrienne Graham, a woman of African American and Hispanic descent, recognizes that women of Hispanic heritage have a slightly different set of needs than other women. “Networking in particular is crucial to succeeding in business, and Latinas come from a culture where we’re taught not to ask for things; to do it yourself or not at all” says Graham. “Every woman needs a strong network. And if we don’t speak up for what we want and don’t align ourselves with the right people, reaching our goals will be that much harder”. Networking is a truly personal experience and a solid network is a valuable asset that all women should have as part of their professional development arsenal and net worth.

On January 22-23, 2010, the Fearless Networking for Latinas Conference will be held in Lake Buena Vista, Florida at the Buena Vista Palace Resort & Hotel located in beautiful Downtown Disney. Latina entrepreneurs and professionals will benefit from participating in this exciting and informative event of the year. This two day event is jammed packed with powerful information, revealing workshops and strategic networking sessions designed to give you the tools (and connections) you need to build a successful network and circle of influence. The conference will showcase experts on a variety of topics designed to make you an Empowered (Professional) Latina. “2010 will be the year of the Empowered Latina” says Graham. “All old thoughts and hesitations about the way we used to network will be dispelled, and my programs will help usher in a new confidence and fearlessness for Latinas”.

For more information: http://www.empowerme.org, http://www.fearlessnetworkingforlatinas.com or http://www.empoweredlatina.com

Growing up is always hard to do, but it is especially difficult when your name is María de la Soledad Teresa O’Brien, you’re the daughter of a black Cuban mother and an Irish and Scottish father from Australia, and you live in an almost all-white Long Island suburb. Just think of the explaining you would have to do on the first day of school.

Partly because O’Brien struggled as a teenager to simultaneously navigate her mother’s Cuban influences and the difficulties of growing up as a first generation Latina in the U.S., she decided to film her third documentary about race relations. CNN Presents: Latino in America follows CNN’s Black in America series in exploring the lives of millions of people who are linked by race and distanced by wealth, region, gender and age.

It seems fitting that someone who is so ethnically diverse should tell this story—after all, O’Brien has won recognition for her achievements from Irish American, Hispanic, and African American publications. And it is clear that reporting and producing the documentary has brought her closer to her own Latina roots, which she concedes she has connected with only distantly through the successes and failures of others or through the prism of a journalistic lens.

O’Brien’s mixed identity shows in her sense of journalistic neutrality when covering Latino issues: She seems equally foreign to and interested in understanding both Latinos and those who fear a “browning of America.” But sometimes a controversial story told by someone who is intent on looking for many nuances—and who works for a major TV network—can lose its punch in favor of political correctness. For instance, O’Brien sidesteps a question about CNN colleague Lou Dobbs, who has enraged immigration reform advocates and Latino leaders across the country with his obsessive blaming of America’s economic ailments on immigrants. She also says she doesn’t know if the coverage of a hate crime is ultimately a “positive story or negative story,” as if reporting on intolerance against Latinos could be a two-sided issue.

After a two-week back-and-forth with the CNN anchor’s publicist, PODER finally tracked O’Brien down on her whirlwind tour to hype her new documentary days before it was scheduled to air on October 21. The phone crackles and O’Brien’s distinctively peppy voice emerges from the other end of the line. As the interview starts—we only have 20 minutes—O’Brien begins speaking freely and in rapid bursts, but pauses often in mid-sentence when trying to find the right word.