Bay Area event for Latina entrepreneurs focuses on health, wellbeing

Latina-owned businesses are one of the fastest growing sectors of national entrepreneurship in the U.S. High potential Latina business owners drive local and national economic development, and often make substantial contributions to their communities.

According to the State of Women-Owned Businesses Report, it is estimated that there were 1.9 million Hispanic women-owned firms in the United States in 2016, employing 550,400 workers and generating $97 billion in revenue. The number of Hispanic women entrepreneurs grew at a faster rate than any other group – 137 percent between 2007 and 2016.

With the U.S. Census Bureau projecting the number of Hispanic women to nearly double by 2050 and for Hispanic people to become the largest ethnic group in the United States, the growth in the number of Hispanic women-owned businesses is expected to continue.

Hosted by Prospera, the Third Summit for Latina Entrepreneurs held last Saturday in Berkeley brought together more than 150 Latina entrepreneurs from across the Bay Area. The focus of the summit event was health and wellbeing as a fundamental component of economic sustainability and successful entrepreneurship.

“If we are to keep up the growth in a way that contributes to the health and wellbeing of our families and communities, we must invest time in caring for ourselves,” said Claudia Arroyo, Prospera’s Co-executive Director. “We are not going to make much of an impact if we are not healthy ourselves”.

The attendees received information on what it takes to balance physical, mental and financial health so that they can succeed as entrepreneurs. The summit offered a series of workshops and panels, including a health fair to promote wellness to ensure that Latina entrepreneurs see the importance of wellbeing for them, their families, and community.

“I received a lot of motivation, creativity and clarity about the possibilities that we Latino women have”, said attendee Susana Cardenas. “We can all be entrepreneurs and support each other”.

The event also provided networking opportunities to help break isolation among Latina immigrant entrepreneurs and to help them to connect with community organizations so they can access a wide range of financial literacy tools and resources.

Nancy Rosales founded the cooperative Pepitos Paletas in 2007 and has received resources and coaching from Prospera to achieve her company’s goals. Using whole fruits and natural ingredients, the company produces organic paletas with Mexican flavors and recipes. They now cater paletas to giant firms like Facebook and SalesForce, and want to add more accounts in the tech industry.

Co-directors of Prospera Claudia Arroyo (right), Maria Rogers Pascual (left), Consul General of Mexico in San Francisco Remedios Gómez Arnau (center).

“The success of a company is their customer services and to have a clear vision to where you want to go,” says Rosales, who was a presenter at the summit. “You need a good relationship with money, you need to talk about money”.

Another presenter was Mayerling Castillo from Forma Fitness based in Oakland. Forma was born from Castillo’s desire to share her experience and knowledge with the community. As a personal fitness coach, her mission is to inspire people towards a healthier lifestyle.

“We need to eat what our grandparents used to eat, food from the plants, from the trees, so we can process and assimilate the nutrients easier,” says Castillo. “Everything starts with self-care. Women are very generous, always giving and worrying about others, but we cannot give what we do not have. If you are healthy, you can take better care of your family and your family is going to feel good.”

Susana Gama from Amigas Empresarias talked about the relationship with money. Her company helps women entrepreneurs realize how the subconscious mind is often sabotaging people to achieve their financial goals.

“We all deserve abundance; we need to believe that is possible to achieve our financial goals,” said Gama.

Latina entrepreneurs are becoming key drivers of the economy in California and the nation. In the past five years, there has been an 87 percent growth in Latina-owned businesses in the state.

Because of the recent and projected increase in their numbers, Hispanic women entrepreneurs are an untapped engine of economic growth. Understanding what sets these firms apart from others is key to unlocking their potential. If revenues generated by Hispanic women-owned firms matched those currently generated by other women-owned business, they could add $155 billion in revenues and 80,000 new jobs to the U.S. economy.