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By JOHN BRINSLEY

Staff Reporter

The number of Latino-owned businesses in Southern California has more than doubled in the past seven years, according to a study to be released this week.

Prepared for the Latin Business Association in conjunction with its fourth Latino Business Expo at the L.A. Convention Center on Sept. 2, the findings highlight a community whose growing economic power has only recently been recognized.

The study, by the Tom & #225;s Rivera Policy Institute, a think tank affiliated with the Claremont Graduate University, shows that the number of Latino businesses in the region has risen from 177,021 in 1992 to an estimated 440,000 in 1999, generating revenues of roughly $47 billion. (The region covers all of Southern California, from San Diego to Santa Barbara counties.)

“There is a stereotype of a Latino business: it’s small restaurants and a couple of service providers and that’s it,” said Hector Barreto, president of Barreto Financial Services Inc. and chairman of the Latin Business Association. “But one of the fastest-growing areas is in technology, people building Web sites.”

Still, the institute’s survey of almost 300 Latino-owned businesses in Southern California with sales of at least $1 million showed that the majority (61 percent) do not use computer technology in production.

While language and culture barriers have made Latino communities somewhat insular, only 34 percent of the revenues at surveyed Latino businesses were derived from sales to Latinos.

And while 13 percent of surveyed companies sell their products or services in the local neighborhood, 19 percent sell to the national market and 15 percent to the international market, suggesting that only a small number of companies cater to a culturally restricted area.

“(The non-Latino business community) wonders, ‘What do these people want? Do they want to assimilate or do they want to be totally separate?'” Barreto said. “It’s not an ‘or’ question. It’s an ‘and’ question. They are assimilating, they are building businesses. And they are retaining their culture.”

Not surprisingly, the unceasing migration from Latin America has helped fuel the growth in these companies. More than a quarter of all Latino businesses have a workforce that is 100 percent Latino, the study showed.

Owners of these businesses tend to save their money carefully, which may prevent them from growing quickly but allows them to survive in case of a downturn, said Ruth Lopez Williams, chief executive of Beverly Oncology & Imaging Centers and vice chairwoman of the Latino Business Association.

“The economic revival after the recession in California was sustained by small businesses, and a large percentage of that was Latino small businesses,” Williams said. “They weren’t getting into business to get into the stock market, they were interested in buying a home. They start businesses to put food on the table, and not necessarily to have an economic competitive advantage.”

As good as most people feel these days about the state of the economy, Latino business owners seem even more optimistic. Nearly 75 percent of the companies surveyed expected sales to jump within the next month, by an average of 26 percent. More than half expect to hire more employees, by an average of 19 people not inconsiderable when the median workforce of companies in the survey is about 36 people.

The upcoming expo is expected to draw 3,000 Latino entrepreneurs, a 50 percent jump from the 2,000 business owners that came last year. Corporate giants such as Citibank, Procter & Gamble and IBM have signed on to sponsor the event,

The annual gathering is designed to put Latino businesses in touch with each other as well as corporate America. Pre-registration has enabled the LBA to match entrepreneurs with prospective clients. Last year, there was greater demand than expected for Latino construction companies, and organizers had to scramble to make sure everyone met everyone else.

Meetings with buyers will go on all day, as will a trade show, while educational seminars are scheduled as well. A breakfast hosting Latina entrepreneurs will kick off the event.

“If you want to see the Latino community in action, you need to be at that event for the day,” Lopez Williams said.

Texas governor and Republican Presidential candidate George W. Bush will be the keynote speaker. As he has done on many of his campaign stops, Bush is expected to use his Spanish skills during his speech. LBA officials are pleased by the media attention that will result from Bush’s visit, but hasten to add that the event should be covered on its merits.