The survey, conducted in partnership with the
United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, reveals the biggest
challenges facing Hispanic small business owners
HOUSTON, Oct. 5, 2022
/PRNewswire/ -- Today, Hello Alice and Square unveiled a new
study to outline the challenges and opportunities faced by
Hispanic-owned small businesses and to provide resources to meet
their needs. Hello Alice, the free platform helping over one
million small businesses grow, released this latest survey report
in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month. The survey was conducted in
partnership with Square, the technology company helping sellers of
all sizes run and grow their businesses, and The United States
Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC).
The survey of 2,700 Hispanic small business owners across
the United States on the Hello
Alice platform revealed the largest challenges facing the Hispanic
demographic: raising capital through funding or credit building
opportunities, obtaining raw materials or inventory, acquiring
customers, growing their staff, and effectively marketing to new
and returning customers. Expanding access to financial education,
grants, loans, credit cards, and other types of capital continues
to be one of the best ways to address these challenges and help
Hispanic owners further grow their companies and contribute to the
overall global economy.
Key findings from the survey include:
- Inflation Drives Demand For Additional Capital: When
surveyed on their greatest business challenges, Hispanic owners
most commonly cited two related areas: raising capital (30%), with
the primary difficulty being finding funding opportunities (86%);
and growing the business (24%). Much of this difficulty reflects a
need for greater financial literacy and education.
- 2023 Business Outlook Hinges On Customer Acquisition And
Hiring: 81% of Hispanic owners say they're confident their
business will grow in 2023, but the factors Hispanic business
owners say will most determine their potential success include 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%).
- Hispanic Owners 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 paid advertising (57%) and social media
(54%) as potential growth areas.
- 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 — provided they significantly improve
processes.
"Minority-led small businesses have been historically
underrepresented and often face a unique set of challenges when
trying to grow their businesses," said Elizabeth Gore and Carolyn Rodz, co-founders of Hello Alice.
"However, minority-led small businesses, including Hispanic owners,
have been growing in economic power, as part of the emerging New
Majority. They represent an increasingly powerful segment of the
economy, full of potential if provided the right assistance to
overcome growth challenges. This survey helps us better understand
these specific challenges of Hispanic small business owners so that
we can uncover more effective solutions to help their businesses
become more successful."
Last month, Square announced that its entire ecosystem of
products and services – more than 35 products in total – is now
available in Spanish to sellers in the
United States. Hispanic-owned businesses can use Square's
end-to-end business solutions in either English or Spanish,
including key products that address the challenges outlined in this
report. Square's ecosystem gives sellers a single,
easy-to-understand home for their entire business, unlocking a
variety of capabilities like accessing loans through Square
Banking, connecting with and staying in touch with customers
through Square Marketing, and managing staff through Team
Management and Square Payroll.
"Hispanic-owned businesses contribute enormously to their
communities and the economy, all while facing a unique set of
challenges," said Bryan Solar, Head
of Restaurants at Square. "Square is fully invested in the success
of Hispanic-owned businesses and recently underwent a company-wide
effort to make our entire ecosystem of products and services
available in Spanish, guaranteeing that both English- and
Spanish-speaking sellers could take full advantage of our ecosystem
in their preferred language. As a Latino whose grandmother and
extended family have owned Mexican restaurants in Texas, I'm very excited about what we can do
for Hispanic emprendedores like the ones I grew up
with."
"The United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce supports our 5
million Latino-owned businesses in America to overcome challenges
in obtaining capital, capacity, and contracts," said Ramiro A. Cavazos, President & CEO of USHCC.
"We are proud to serve along with our business partners at Hello
Alice by providing more comprehensive invaluable resources and
effective programs to implement our $5
million SBA Community Navigator Pilot grant program."
ABOUT HELLO ALICE
Founded by Carolyn Rodz and
Elizabeth Gore, Hello Alice is a
free platform serving more than one million small business owners
across the United States.
Committed to equitable access to capital for women, people of
color, members of the LGBTQ+ community, veterans, and entrepreneurs
with disabilities, Hello Alice offers funding, education, tools,
and curated opportunities. Working with enterprise business
services, ecosystem partners, affiliates, and government agencies,
Hello Alice provides its growing community with everything they
need to grow their businesses. To learn more, visit
www.helloalice.com, as well as Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram,
and Facebook.
Media Contact:
Jennifer
Laski
Relativity Ventures
helloalice@relativity.ventures
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.
Media Contact:
Jerónimo Anaya
Ortiz
Square
jeronimo@squareup.com
ABOUT THE UNITED STATES HISPANIC CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
(USHCC)
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.
Media Contact:
Veronica De La
Torre
vdelatorre@ushcc.com
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SOURCE Hello Alice