Latina entrepreneurs take step forward

LOS ANGELES - Maria de Lourdes Sobrino began her entrepreneurial journey alone in a cramped storefront, whipping up 300 cups of ready-to-eat gelatin by hand each day. She knew nothing about food processing, had no friends in business or banking, and faced ridicule from her well-heeled family members, who urged her to come home to Mexico City.

Sixteen years later, her Huntington Beach business and a sister company that makes frozen-fruit bars pull in $8 million a year. After designing her own production equipment and experimenting with recipes for longer shelf life, Sobrino ships her popular Mexican "gelatina" dessert and all-natural frozen confections to 14 states and three countries. She is building a 70,000-square-foot plant to handle growth.

Something else has changed. Although Sobrino battled her way to success alone, she now participates in a burgeoning sorority of Latina entrepreneurs. She recently helped form two local organizations to help other Latinas succeed in business. And she took her story to a nearby middle school, inspiring gawkily written thank-you notes from students who more often see themselves reflected in dropout and teen-pregnancy statistics.

Sobrino's status as boss of Lulu's Dessert Factory, whose colorful trucks promise "More Fun for Your Spoon," left many of the schoolgirls awe-struck, but it is a success they have a better chance than ever of emulating.

Studies show Latinas leading the nation in business formation, creating enterprises at more than four times the rate of the general population. Revenues and employment by Latina-owned businesses are growing even faster than their numbers. And while a majority fall in the service category, the number in construction, agriculture and wholesale trade has grown fastest of all - blasting a hole in gender and ethnic stereotypes.

Latinas are coming together in greater numbers to network, contracting with one another and offering free services to sister start-ups. National Latina organizations that never before focused on business are crafting entrepreneurship programs, with financial backing from big corporations such as American Express. And across the country, women are stepping out from the shadows to seize leadership roles in Latino/a business organizations where they have long toiled as worker bees.

"There's a momentum and it's just going to continue to take off," said Small Business Administration chief Aida Alvarez, who honored Latina entrepreneurs - Sobrino among them - in November at the Latin Business Association expo in Los Angeles, the nation's Latino business capital.

Behind all this, Latina entrepreneurs say, are changing gender roles, rising divorce rates, the entrepreneurial spirit of immigrants and a transformation of cultural values. Long ensconced in the role of behind-the-scenes family leader, Latinas are putting their tenacity, pride and ability to manage multiple tasks to work - in business.

"Before, Hispanic women had always put ourselves at the bottom of the totem pole in terms of our family," said Anna Maria Arias, editor and publisher of Washington-based LatinaStyle magazine, which launched a seven-city business series for Latina entrepreneurs in June in Los Angeles. "Now, we want to take care of ourselves and, by taking care of ourselves, we're taking care of our families.

"When it comes to household decisions - from what toothpaste they use to what car they drive and what vacations they take - it's the woman" who makes them, Arias said. "That's bleeding into the work environment. It's a kind of rebirth of Hispanic women."

The trend reflects a gradual shift in Latino culture.

"For a long time, (Latinas) weren't encouraged to go into business," said Latin Business Association Chairperson Hector Barreto. "Now ... there's not a stigma to it."

Between 1987 and 1996, the number of Latina-owned businesses grew by 206 percent, compared with 47 percent for all businesses, according to a report by the National Foundation for Women Business Owners, a research group.

The report, released last year, showed a relatively low number of Latina-owned firms - 382,400, or 5 percent of all women-owned businesses. But no group came close in growth rates, particularly in traditionally male-dominated fields: The number of Latina firms rose 428 percent in construction, 389 percent in agriculture and 338 percent in wholesale trade. Overall sales by Latina-owned enterprises grew by 534 percent and employment jumped 487 percent.

"It's not only that we have more (Latina-owned) firms; they're larger, more sophisticated and making a greater contribution to our economy," said Sharon Hadary, executive director of the National Foundation for Women Business Owners.

Amid the snowballing enthusiasm are newfound Latina role models, whose many firsts are showcased in the Spanish-language media and recited like incantations by entrepreneurs and business advocates.

Among them: the SBA's Alvarez - the first Latina to hold a Cabinet-level post - and Linda Alvarado, whose Denver-based Alvarado Construction Inc. is one of the country's largest Latino-owned building companies. Alvarado is also the first Latina to own a piece of a Major League Baseball franchise - the Colorado Rockies.

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