Small-Business Veteran Sees Big Future for Latinos

0

This story has been updated from a previous version to accurately reflect Hector Barreto’s role in the Latin Business Association.

Few know more about small businesses and Latino entrepreneurs than Hector Barreto, 54, a small businessman himself and former administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration. His father, Hector Sr., emigrated from Guadalajara, Mexico, and settled in Kansas City, Mo., where he eventually opened a small restaurant and went on to found the national Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Hector Jr. moved to Southern California, where he started an insurance company that’s now headquartered in Irvine. He joined and eventually chaired the L.A.-based Latin Business Association and served as vice chair of the Hispanic chamber. He delivered a nominating speech in 2000 for George W. Bush, who the next year appointed Barreto to run the SBA. After six years with the SBA, Barreto returned to Orange County and took the helm of the Latino Coalition, which crafts partnerships and initiatives to help Latinos develop businesses and economic self-sufficiency. He recently wrote a book: “The Engine of America: The Secrets to Small Business Success From Entrepreneurs Who Have Made It!” The Business Journal interviewed Barreto as he was preparing to host a small-business summit in downtown Los Angeles last week.

Question: As a prominent Republican and son of a Mexican immigrant, how do you come to terms with comments about illegal immigrants by Donald Trump?

Answer: He caught everyone by surprise. No question his comments on immigrants were incredibly insulting. When I heard them, I was hurt and insulted. But you’ve got to remember, he was never considered a Republican and certainly has not been a lifelong Republican. Yes, there is a certain group within the Republican Party that he has hit a chord with. And the other candidates have been taking a low profile on this issue because they don’t want to tangle with Donald Trump or alienate his block of primary voters.

What about the tone it sets for the Republican presidential campaign?

I’ve worked with Republican presidents and candidates for the past 15 years and my father worked with Republican presidents and candidates for decades before that. I can tell you that the presidents and candidates have been paying attention to the Latino community.

So whom are you supporting for the Republican presidential nomination?

I am supporting Jeb Bush. His campaign manager is Hispanic American; many other Hispanics have prominent positions in his campaign and, of course, he is married to a Hispanic American and speaks Spanish. So he gets it. I also believe that after the primaries, he will be the last man standing.

What are some of the unique issues that Latino entrepreneurs face?

A lot of first-generation Hispanic American entrepreneurs face language and cultural issues. Also, there’s the issue of not being formal businesses: Many start out as underground businesses. But on the positive side, the fastest-growing segment of business startups is among Hispanic women. That’s a tremendous opportunity that we’ve only just now started paying attention to. Over the longer term, once the businesses become established, the issues Latino entrepreneurs face are the same as all entrepreneurs: How do I get more capital, how do I keep costs in line, how do I understand all the regulations, etc.

What are the general challenges facing small businesses today?

It’s so difficult to plan ahead in the face of so much uncertainty. I’m not talking about economic uncertainty, as that has eased somewhat. I’m talking about policy uncertainty. Health care costs are going up, and that’s a major effect on small business. Also, regulations keep changing. The big guys can deal with this but the small guys cannot.

Isn’t the Southern California market underserved when it comes to banks catering to Latino entrepreneurs?

Whenever there’s a lending market, even a lending market to Hispanic businesses, someone always steps in. Dominic Ng, the chief executive of East West Bank, is one of the speakers at our Latino Coalition summit this week. You might think of East West Bank as an Asian bank, but they have really stepped up their focus on the Hispanic community.

How supportive do you think California is of small business?

That’s a tough one. I have served on the California Economic Development Commission. We never really talked about a strategy to help small businesses in this state. I would bring the topic up, but it went nowhere. And I can’t think of too many things the state has done to genuinely help small businesses. There’s no talk of helping small businesses get more of the tens of billions of dollars in state contracts, there’s no talk of streamlining the bureaucracy so small-business owners can actually navigate through it. Sure, entrepreneurs still flock here, but not because of anything the state itself is doing. They come because of Silicon Valley, the climate, the huge consumer market.

Previous article Virtual Change
Next article Stocks Mixed
Howard Fine
Howard Fine is a 23-year veteran of the Los Angeles Business Journal. He covers stories pertaining to healthcare, biomedicine, energy, engineering, construction, and infrastructure. He has won several awards, including Best Body of Work for a single reporter from the Alliance of Area Business Publishers and Distinguished Journalist of the Year from the Society of Professional Journalists.

No posts to display