Your Entrepreneurial Ecosystem
Your Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

New Research on Latino Self-Employment

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My colleague and I employ U.S. Census Bureau data from cities of 10,000 or more to examine the impact of immigrants in American cities on self-employment and median income. The results show that self-employment has a statistically significant and positive impact on median income and immigrant population. When controlling for race populations, lagged immigrant population has a negative impact on self-employment, but removing the Hispanic control causes this relationship to become statistically insignificant. In other words, Hispanics, not other ethnicities, drive much of the self-employment in U.S. cities. An implication is that more attention to helping Hispanic business owners succeed and expand their businesses could benefit the general population of a city.

For more, the full academic journal article is here: http://www.jrap-journal.org/pastvolumes/2010/v47/jrap_v47_n2_a1_carpenter_loveridge.pdf

How to Determine the Best Location for Your Business and Create a Business Data Report

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The U.S. Census Bureau recently released a great video explaining how to generate a business report about your potential customers and other businesses like yours for your area or a new market using the Census Business Builder. Check it out below:

Community Development Institute Texas 2018!

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See the announcement here (http://www.lonestar.edu/cdi.htm) and read more from them below. I will be attending as an instructor to discuss the nut and bolts of business retention and expansion! Hope to see you there!

Never before has the practice of community development been more important than it is today. As the world grows smaller through the increased use of global communications, communities of all sizes are finding their boundaries are expanding beyond their city limits. CDI Texas provides practical, interactive, and comprehensive training designed to meet the needs of economic and community development professionals working in a fast paced environment. CDI Texas builds the capacity of individuals and communities to effectively and positively impact economic and social development.

Who Should Attend?
Participants include community and economic development practitioners, city, county and state officials and community volunteers, non-profit staff and board members, chamber staff, private industry, municipal districts, and academics will find the Institute a valuable learning tool for the development of individual and community leadership skills. Attendees will expand their ability to identify community assets, set goals, encourage collaboration, and respond to a broad range of economic and quality of life issues.

Last Day to book:
February 11, 2018

What Is Business Retention and Expansion and Is it Right for Your Community

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Interested in learning some about Business Retention and Expansion (BR&E)? Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service has a new publication out on BR&E. The publication discusses what BR&E is generally and then focuses on two types of BR&E: the classic business visitation program, and the industrial cluster retention and expansion program. It also discusses why it would probably be good for your community! Check it out at the link below:

http://agrilifelearn.tamu.edu/Business-Retention-and-Expansion-p/eag-046.htm

Hispanic and Latino-owned Businesses Increasingly Important

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Recent estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau emphasize the importance of Latino-owned business in the United States.

Although Latinos still make up a relatively small share of the total business in the United States, compared to non-Latinos, the number of Latino-owned business is growing relatively quickly. The number of Latino-owned businesses increased by 46.3 percent from 2.3 million to 3.3 million in the five years between 2007 to 2012. The total number of all U.S. firms increased at a relatively the slow rate of 2 percent during the same period, from 27.1 million to 27.6 million. Hence, if not for Latino-owned businesses, the total number of U.S. firms may have decreased over that time period. The Latino-owned business receipt growth rate similarly outpaced that of all firms, with an increase of 35.1 percent from $350.7 to $473.6 billion, compared to 11.7 percent growth from $30.0 to $33.5 trillion for all firms.

Reaching out to your Latino community members when discussing any economic development planning or entrepreneurial gardening is essential. Most importantly, reaching out is essential because you should always be sure to include a diverse and representative group in these efforts to maximize buy-in and productive contributions to the process. But reaching out is also important because failing to make an effort to invite your Latino community members will simply exclude a large portion of your small business owners.

See the link below to read the Census’s post:

http://blogs.census.gov/2016/12/01/hispanic-owned-businesses-on-the-upswing/