In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, Hello Alice conducted a survey investigating the challenges and triumphs faced by Hispanic entrepreneurs.
The survey was conducted in partnership with Square, which helps millions of sellers run their business with tools ranging from secure credit card processing to point of sale solutions, the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC), and the Latino Business Action Network (LBAN). Hello Alice reviewed survey responses from more than 2,700 small business owners and compared this information to its overall community of more than one million entrepreneurs. The report also compiles stories from Hispanic entrepreneurs to capture their needs and unique approaches to running their businesses.
In this report, we elaborate on four key insights and recommend solutions for enterprise business services, ecosystem partners, and individual small business owners in pursuit of business for all.
Key Insight #1: Inflation Drives Demand for Additional Capital Among Hispanic Entrepreneurs
When surveyed on their greatest business challenges, Hispanic owners most commonly cited two related areas: raising capital (30%) and growing my business (24%).
Our survey results point to inflation as a clear culprit:
- 89% of Hispanic owners say that inflation is currently impacting their business — four percentage points higher than among non-Hispanic owners
- 70% of Hispanic owners say inflationary impacts are worse than six months ago
- 43% of all Hispanic owners struggling with growth told us they are having trouble either obtaining raw materials or inventory in the current economy
Much of this difficulty reflects a need for greater financial literacy and education:
- 86% of Hispanic owners told us their primary difficulty in accessing capital is finding funding opportunities
- 43% of Hispanic owners are searching for credit-building opportunities
- 29% of Hispanic owners have been rejected for a business credit card in the last five years
- 35% of Hispanic owners have been rejected for a personal credit card in the last five years
- 29% of Hispanic owners plan to apply for financing in 2022 — notably lower than the 36% of non-Hispanic owners who plan to do the same
These facts signal a need for additional resources to educate and connect Hispanic small business owners with available funding opportunities.
Expanding access to grants, loans, credit cards, and other components of the capital continuum is one way to immediately address Hispanic owners’ biggest challenges and remove their single greatest barrier to growth.
Key Insight #2: For Hispanic Entrepreneurs, 2023 Business Outlook Hinges on Customer Acquisition and Hiring
In total, 81% of Hispanic owners say they’re confident their business will grow in 2023, which is on par with responses from the overall small business community.
However, when we asked the Hello Alice small business community what factors will most determine their potential success, Hispanic owners over-indexed in two categories: acquiring new customers and hiring a team. Hispanic owners cited acquiring new customers (33%) as a determining factor nearly as often as the ability to secure funding (35%).
When asked what makes hiring difficult:
- 68% of Hispanic owners say they’re having trouble finding and recruiting candidates
- 34% of Hispanic owners are struggling to determine competitive pay and benefits
- 27% of Hispanic owners are having trouble finding part-time help
Without solutions to overcome challenges in acquiring customers and hiring workers, we can expect Hispanic owners to revise their 2023 business outlook for the worse.
Key Insight #3: Hispanic Entrepreneurs See Marketing as a Challenge and Opportunity
Related to their focus on customer acquisition, Hispanic owners are more likely than the overall population to cite marketing as a significant challenge (11% vs 7.6%).
In particular, Hispanic owners identify two potential growth areas for marketing:
- 57% of Hispanic owners concerned with marketing plan to focus on paid advertising
- 54% of Hispanic owners concerned with marketing plan to focus on social media
Providing tools and education to help Hispanic owners optimize their digital spend will go a long way toward achieving goals around customer acquisition and retention. Additionally, securing additional capital would allow these owners to fully invest in areas of opportunity.
Key Insight #4: Owners Seek Software Solutions to Address Operational Challenges
About half (48%) of all Hello Alice business owners say they are always on the lookout for the latest technology solutions for their business, and another 48% say they are open to new technology solutions — but only if it significantly improves processes.
In particular, owners expressed a desire for tools that maximize efficiency. For example, nearly 22% of owners struggling with day-to-day operations stated scheduling and managing time as an obstacle, a consequence of owners’ limited time and resources.
These sentiments around software are consistent across the small business community as a whole, including both Hispanic and non-Hispanic small business owners.
Finding ways to proactively connect small business owners with the right tools at the right time can help them maximize efficiency and accelerate both short- and long-term growth.
Resources for Hispanic Business Owners:
To all Hispanic small business owners in need, we recommend the following solutions to address the challenges documented in this report:
Access Grants, Loans, and Credit Opportunities
Search for grants, loans, and other financing options and get the capital Hispanic entrepreneurs need to grow their businesses. The Hello Alice Small Business Funding Center offers easy applications and personalized recommendations.
Complete Virtual Training Modules
Hello Alice Milestones break down Hispanic owners’ most common business challenges — fundraising, marketing, and hiring — into step-by-step guides to help your business reach its full potential. With support provided by the USHCC Navigates Small Business program, a growing number of virtual training modules are available in both English and Spanish.
- Understand Your Business Model: English | Español
- Map Your Business Model: English | Español
- Create Your Vision Statement: English | Español
- Choose Your Business Structure: English | Español
- Create a Competitive Analysis Report: English | Español
- Write a Traditional Business Plan: English | Español
- Get an EIN: English | Español
Master and Optimize Your Software Skills with Bilingual Support, Courtesy of Square
Software can have a learning curve. Available in both English and Spanish, Square’s Town Square Business Resource Center offers authoritative research and how-to guides to help Hispanic owners get the most out of their digital solutions. Additionally, Square’s Seller Community (also available in English and Spanish) allows Hispanic owners to access peer-to-peer knowledge and troubleshooting.
Get Free, Bilingual Business Counseling
Bilingual Business Counselors are waiting to help you thrive — complimentary services powered by SBA and Hello Alice, brought to you by the USHCC Navigates. Make your free appointment today.
More Resources & Context
View and Download the Full Hispanic Small Business Owner Impact Report
About Hello Alice
A Latina-owned company founded by Carolyn Rodz and Elizabeth Gore, Hello Alice (helloalice.com) is a free, multichannel platform that helps businesses grow. We believe in business for all by providing access to all owners, including women, people of color, military-connected individuals, the LGBTQ+ community, persons with disabilities, and every American with an entrepreneurial spirit.
About Square
Square helps sellers more easily run and grow their businesses with its integrated ecosystem of commerce solutions. Square offers purpose-built software to run complex restaurant, retail, and professional services operations, versatile e-commerce tools, embedded financial services and banking products, buy now, pay later functionality through Afterpay, staff management and payroll capabilities, and much more – all of which work together to save sellers time and effort. Millions of sellers across the globe trust Square to power their business and help them thrive in the economy. Square is part of Block, Inc. (NYSE: SQ), a global technology company with a focus on financial services. For more information, visit www.squareup.com.
About the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
The United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC) actively promotes the economic growth, development, and interests of five million Hispanic-owned businesses that, combined, contribute over $800 billion to the American economy every year. The USHCC is America’s largest small business advocacy group, representing more than 260 local chambers and business associations nationwide, and partners with hundreds of major American corporations. For more information, please visit ushcc.com. Follow us on Twitter @USHCC.
About the Latino Business Action Network
LBAN is a dynamic nonprofit based in Silicon Valley with a big mission to strengthen the U.S. economy by empowering Latino entrepreneurship across the country. We partner with Stanford University through the jointly supported Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative (SLEI). In addition to driving SLE-Research, SLEI-Education Business Scaling Program, LBAN focuses on building a national ecosystem for Latino business owners. Learn more at lban.us.
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