Latino entrepreneurs selected for program to grow million dollar businesses

The Latino Business Action Network (LBAN) has selected 77 Latino entrepreneurs from across the United States to be a part of the third group of the Stanford Latino Entrepreneur Leaders Program (SLELP3). SLELP3 is a six-week program jointly developed by Stanford University faculty and LBAN.

Its focus is to help Latino business owners grow their businesses. As part of the immersive six-week program, SLELP3 provides participants with valuable concepts and frameworks, enhanced access to capital, personal mentorship from successful entrepreneurs and investors, and a better understanding of the capital resources necessary to grow their businesses, create jobs, and build a stronger economy.

The applicant selection criteria was developed to rigorously filter very early stage companies and target those companies that have received market or investor validation. To be considered for this program, the preferred criteria for applicants is to have either generated $1 million in revenue or have raised $500k in funding. As part of the six-week program, the entrepreneurs will take a customized online course based on curriculum developed by two Stanford Professors; Huggy Rao, Stanford Graduate School of Business Faculty and Bob Sutton, Stanford School of Engineering Faculty, who are internationally recognized as experts in scaling businesses.

SLELP3 business owners are part of an elite and talented group of innovators and business leaders whose drive, work ethic, and ambition will help to grow our economy and communities across the United States. Arturo Noriega of Centro Community Partners in Oakland is one of the business leaders who will be mentoring the entrepreneurs. Centro Community Partners provides business advisory services and leadership programs to rising entrepreneurs who want to launch or grow their businesses and create jobs in their communities. Centro's Basic Entrepreneurship Program is designed for individuals at the idea stage of their business and who have not been exposed yet to any business education.

Successful Latinos from many industries in the Bay Area will be working with entrepreneurs in the SLELP3 program, including:

• Agustina Sartori, GlamST, San Francisco
• Amparo Vigil, Puerto Alegre, San Francisco
• Felipe Servin, Shoe Lovers, San Francisco
• Gregory Enriquez, Trapx Security, San Mateo
• Lucas Funes, Webee, Cupertino
• Melinda Garcia, Garcia & Gurney, ALC, Pleasanton
• Miriam Puentes, Honrama Cellars, Napa
• Paul Orozco, Iguanas Burritozilla Corp., San Jose
• Raul Alcaraz, Race Telecommunications, Inc., Millbrae
• Roxanne Caldera, AnewAmerica Community Corporation, San Jose

LBAN and Stanford University collaborate on programs for Latino entrepreneurs, including the research focused Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative (SLEI) and the Stanford Latino Entrepreneur Leaders Program (SLELP). LBAN works to empower Latino entrepreneurs to grow large businesses through entrepreneurship research, education, and networks. LBAN's ultimate goal is to double the number of $100 million and $1 billion Latino-owned businesses by 2020.