Latino Entrepreneurship in
Missouri
Research by the Missouri Department of Economic Development shows that the number of Latino owned businesses in Missouri is growing. Evidence of this growth can be found in the fact that during the 1990s there was over an 80 percent increase in Latino owned firms and an increase in sales by these firms of over 120 percent. This information indicates that business ownership is an important avenue of income generation for the Latino population in Missouri.
The presence of Latino entrepreneurs also helps to strengthen the Missouri economy through the contributions of small business to the overall growth in jobs and gross state product. Given the tremendous growth in the Latino population, it benefits both the Latino community and the state of Missouri to understand who Latino entrepreneurs are and what can be done to help them be more successful in their business pursuits.
While entrepreneurship among all Missourians seems to be concentrated in the rural regions of the state, Latino entrepreneurs are more concentrated in urban areas. This is likely due to the fact that there is a larger Latino population in urban areas. It may also be due to the fact that rural entrepreneurs tend to concentrate business ownership in industries such as farming that are highly capital intensive and many Latinos, who are relative newcomers to the state, may not have the resources to concentrate in capital intensive business. The map below shows Latino entrepreneurs are more concentrated in the metropolitan areas of St. Louis and Kansas City. There are also concentrations of Latino entrepreneurs in the Branson area and North Central Missouri.
The majority of Missouri's Latino entrepreneurs are engaged in construction, retail, and service businesses. However, the industry concentration of Latino entrepreneurs varies considerably according to the region of the state. For example, the Branson area of Missouri has a heavy concentration of Latino entrepreneurs in agriculture and landscaping while the Kansas City and St. Louis metropolitan areas have very similar statistics to the statewide average.
The average Latino entrepreneur in Missouri has received a high school diploma. The average income of Missouri's Latino entrepreneurs ($30,346) is much higher that the average income for Latino wage laborers ($19,799) in Missouri. However, more than half of Missouri's Latino entrepreneurs are low income and are considered to be either working poor or below the poverty level. In these cases, low incomes among Latino entrepreneurs may make it difficult for aspiring business owners to access business financing through traditional sources such as banks which often require a steady income stream or high amounts of collateral to secure a loan.
Education Level of Latino
Entrepreneurs
Statewide there are a significant number of Latino entrepreneurs who do not speak English well. Low English ability is particularly a problem in the metropolitan areas of St. Louis and Kansas City where over 15 percent of the entrepreneurial population does not speak English well. Issues of language may impede the access that Latino business owners have to training classes, networking opportunities, and sources of capital.
Access to nontraditional sources of financing, industry-specific training available in both English and Spanish, and programs that introduce Latinos to the existing business community are all ways to help Latino business owners capitalize on resources that they might not have been aware of within their own communities and to succeed in small business ownership in Missouri.
Read the full report. April 2005
