Latino Business Owners Panel
October 7, 2009
7-9pm at LACC
This was the fourth event in celebration of Latino Heritage month 2009. Panelists represented health, transportation, technology, legal services and real state fields. In sharing their story, they all emphasized the need to network and to be disciplined.
This panel was hosted as many college students are exploring ways to generate their own income as the slow economy may hinder their ability to find employment right after graduation. According the Mass Latino Chamber of Commerce based in Springfield MA 34 new businesses opened doors in the last four months. Competition is fierce in this sector but as Ray Hernandez, President of Juju’s Transportation said “society will pay for great ideas.” At 24, Ray is also a student at Springfield Technical Community College and has received many national and regional awards for his business. He encouraged students to support small businesses as the revenues help the local economy.
Cynthia Lopez emphasized the need to be creative. She didn’t know she would be starting her own firm within eight months of completing her law degree from Suffolk University. With little resources at her disposal she started talking to people about her goals and was offered an office in exchange for 10% of her earnings. She now has one in Boston and one in Springfield. Her only regret is not choosing an undergraduate degree that gave her specific skills.
Miguel Perez of C&M Computers and More in Amherst benefitted from his MBA from American International College but the services he provides repairing electronics are self taught. He still holds a part-time job and he and his partner don’t pay themselves to allow the business to grow. Various students asked him if they should wait to complete their degrees and he answered “thinking back I should have started much sooner.”
UMass alumna Zoraida Rodriguez partnered with a nurse and a pharmacist to open the Diabetes Center of Western Mass in Holyoke. In order to get referrals they contacted doctors and pharmaceutical representatives. Their challenge is getting acquainted with the health insurance lingo but she said “you have to be able to ask for help.”
Alfonso Acuña of Acuña Real Estate started studies at Springfield Technical Community College and acquired experience from the business administration program offered to employees of McDonald’s and workshops he facilitated as Fire Marshall. He and his wife started their business in their dining room. The down turn of the economy is brining clients that would never look at properties below $150,000. His advice was “watch less TV and surround yourself with positive people.
Students that attended the event learned about resources like the Mass Latino Chamber of Commerce and SCORE, that you don’t have to have to have a business degree to start your own business but do need great determination and ability to be deal with challenges.
Sponsored by Latin American Cultural Center
