My father came to the United States from Mexico with the dream of starting something great.
When he arrived in Missouri nearly 60 years ago, his first job was digging potatoes on a farm for 80 cents an hour.
Through hard work and his unwavering drive, he went from an immigrant of humble beginnings to an entrepreneur building a legacy as big as his dreams. Throughout his lifetime, he owned several restaurants, started his own company and co-founded the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
The fire within my father still burns today within the owners of the more than 244,000 small businesses right here in Los Angeles County. The vision and determination my father possessed is – and will always be – part of the recipe for small business success. Yet in a world of fast-moving technology, this recipe constantly changes and small business owners need to embrace the latest resources and technologies to keep up.
Notably, consumers’ desire to make payments quickly, efficiently and safely is pushing cash by the wayside. The Federal Reserve has found that card payments, including debit and credit card payments, totaled $5.72 trillion in 2015, up $1.07 trillion since 2012. Unfortunately, small businesses that do not accept electronic payments miss out on this rapid growth in consumer spending.
Today’s technology also has the potential to help small businesses in the making. Opening a small business not only requires a vision, but often a relatively large amount of capital. To help aspiring business owners with limited banking resources or credit histories access this capital, microfinance organizations offer microloans. These are generally small loans offered at a lower interest rate to help new businesses get started.
According to a report by Mastercard’s Center for Inclusive Growth, several of these organizations now disburse such loans electronically via prepaid cards. These microloans help borrowers get the capital they need to start a business and build their credit histories with greater convenience and efficiency.
As they pursue their goals, it’s important for both current and aspiring small business owners to understand the tools and technologies that are available to them, and how to use them effectively. And as with many things in life, it all starts with education.
Working together, The Latino Coalition and Master Your Card, a community empowerment program of Mastercard, play an important role in providing this education. For example, we support small business owners with information and tips on how to integrate today’s technology into their business operations, such as how to select a payment processor and protect both business and
customer data.
I believe my father would be proud to see that the entrepreneurial drive he possessed and instilled in me is still alive in small business owners in Los Angeles and across the country today. But while many things remain the same in the business world, many are changing. The digital economy has brought with it new tools and technologies that have the potential to benefit businesses of all shapes and sizes. With the right information and outreach, we can get these latest technologies into the hands of more entrepreneurs with dreams of starting something great.
Barreto is chairman of The Latino Coalition, a former administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, and a member of the Master Your Card Oportunidad Advisory Board. He lives in Los Angeles.
