Business
Hispanic Entrepreneurs Bullish on 2020 Business Outlook, With Revenue Projections Rising to Four-Year High
Nine in 10 Plan to Grow their Business in the Decade Ahead
U.S. Hispanic small business owners anticipate a decade of robust expansion and growth, expressing a brighter business outlook than their non-Hispanic peers in the year ahead, according to the fourth annual Bank of America Business Advantage 2020 Hispanic Business Owner Spotlight.
The annual study based on a survey of more than 1,000 entrepreneurs across the country reveals:
Outlook remains strong for Hispanic entrepreneurs, exceeding that of their non-Hispanic peers.
- 89% of Hispanic entrepreneurs plan to expand over the next 12 months (vs. 68% of non-Hispanic entrepreneurs, and up slightly from 87% in 2019).
- 79% expect their revenue to increase in the year ahead, a four-year high (vs. 57% of non-Hispanic entrepreneurs, and up from 74% in 2019).
- 45% plan to hire in 2020 (vs. 24% of non-Hispanic entrepreneurs, and down from 51% in 2019).
- 78% plan to obtain financing over the next 12 months (vs. 49% of non-Hispanic entrepreneurs). The top three ways Hispanic entrepreneurs intend to obtain financing include tapping into personal savings (38%), applying for a bank loan (31%) and using personal credit cards (23%).
“Hispanic entrepreneurs are entering the new decade on a high note, with many pursuing growth strategies — investing in both the year ahead and their long-term future,” said Elizabeth Romero, Small Business Centralized Client Management and Specialty Support executive, Bank of America. “Despite these strong forecasts, most Hispanic entrepreneurs continue to report obstacles to business growth. Bank of America is committed to partnering with Hispanic business owners to address these challenges and help fuel growth for their businesses.”
Hispanic entrepreneurs see the 2020s as a decade of opportunity.
A strong majority of Hispanic business owners (92%) believe the small business environment will strengthen for their community over the next five years, and 90% have set ambitious goals to advance or grow their business in the new decade. Specifically, their top five goals over the next 10 years include: significantly increasing revenue (57%), prioritizing the digital presence of their business (45%), expanding into new markets (34%), significantly increasing staff (30%), and automating business operations (29%).
Hispanic entrepreneurs still bullish, yet confidence in the economy is down slightly year over year.
- 62% of Hispanic entrepreneurs are confident their local economy will improve in the year ahead (vs. 52% of non-Hispanic entrepreneurs, and down from 68% in 2019).
- 53% are confident the national economy will improve over the next 12 months (vs. 49% of non-Hispanic entrepreneurs, and down from 59% in 2019).
Economic concerns decline, yet remain elevated over their non-Hispanic counterparts.
- Health care costs remain the most worrisome economic issue for Hispanic entrepreneurs (63%), though concern fell to the lowest level since the survey began in 2017.
- Other top concerns of Hispanic business owners in 2020 include the political environment (59%), strength of the U.S. dollar (59%), commodities prices (56%), consumer spending (56%) and interest rates (55%).
- Compared to their non-Hispanic peers, Hispanic entrepreneurs expressed notably greater concern around commodities prices (56% of Hispanic entrepreneurs vs. 43% of non-Hispanic), credit availability (50% of Hispanic vs. 36% of non-Hispanic) and climate change (45% vs. 34%).
Hispanic business owners cite lack of resources, lack of expertise and access to capital as top barriers.
A sizeable majority of Hispanic entrepreneurs (72%) report that efforts to grow their business face distinct challenges, citing lack of resources (21%), lack of expertise in back office management (21%) and challenges accessing capital (20%) as the top three barriers.
For an in-depth look at the insights of the nation’s Hispanic small business owners, read the full Bank of America Business Advantage 2020 Hispanic Business Owner Spotlight.
Providing a business advantage to small business owners
Bank of America provides advice, solutions, access to capital and dedicated support to meet the unique needs of our 12 million small business owner clients. We originated $9.2 billion in new loans to small business clients in 2019, up 7% from 2018. According to the FDIC, Bank of America also maintained its position as the nation’s top small business lender at the end of the third quarter of 2019, with $37.6 billion in total outstanding small business loans (defined as business loans in original amounts of $1 million and under), up 8% year over year. In 2019, Bank of America booked more than 339,000 low- and moderate-income (LMI) loans totaling $6.3 billion, which was more than half of the company’s total small business lending. The company is a top lender in the SBA’s 504 and 7(a) programs, and a leading investor in community development financial institutions (CDFIs) – with a portfolio of nearly $1.6 billion invested across the U.S., of which, nearly $400 million is invested in CDFIs focused on U.S. small businesses.
Serving the Hispanic-Latino community
Bank of America is proud of its long-standing commitment to creating a diverse and inclusive environment for our employees and supporting diverse customers, communities and businesses around the world. We currently serve 9.5 million Hispanic-Latino clients, and more than 1 million Hispanic-Latino business owners. By the end of 2019, Bank of America had more than 2 million users on its Spanish language mobile app, growing by more than 20% year over year. Additionally, nearly two-thirds of Bank of America financial centers are staffed by employees with bilingual capabilities, and more than 4,000 multilingual teammates staff our financial centers located in LMI areas.
Bank of America Business Advantage 2020 Hispanic Business Owner Spotlight
Ipsos conducted the Bank of America Hispanic Business Owner Spotlight survey online between July 19 and September 6, 2019, using a pre-recruited online sample of Hispanic and non-Hispanic small business owners. Ipsos contacted a national sample of 1,323 small business owners in the United States with annual revenue between $100,000 and $4,999,999 and employing between two and 99 employees, and conducted 428 interviews among Hispanic small business owners. The final results were weighted to national benchmark standards for size, revenue, and region, and, for the Hispanic segment, whether the respondents were primarily English-speaking or Spanish-speaking.
The full report can be viewed/downloaded here.
Bank of America
Bank of America is one of the world’s leading financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving approximately 66 million consumer and small business clients with approximately 4,300 retail financial centers, including approximately 2,800 lending centers, 2,600 financial centers with a Consumer Investment Financial Solutions Advisor and 2,000 business centers; approximately 16,800 ATMs; and award winning digital banking with approximately 38 million active users, including approximately 29 million mobile users. Bank of America is a global leader in wealth management, corporate and investment banking and trading across a broad range of asset classes, serving corporations, governments, institutions and individuals around the world. Bank of America offers industry-leading support to approximately 3 million small business owners through a suite of innovative, easy-to-use online products and services. The company serves clients through operations across the United States, its territories and approximately 35 countries. Bank of America Corporation stock (NYSE: BAC) is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Riverside’s Phenix Technology Leads with Inclusion, Empowering the Disabled Community Through Workforce Training and Employer Education
Written by Logan Rosselli, IEBJ Content Contributor
In the heart of Riverside, off of Chicago Avenue, a small, but mighty team has been quietly manufacturing life-saving equipment for firefighters across the world for over 50 years. Phenix Technology Inc. is an internationally recognized fire helmet manufacturer who builds their products from start to finish right here in the Inland Empire. For their great products, they’ve received numerous awards such as the Greater Riverside Chamber of Commerce’s 2025 Innovator of the Year, a 2016 “E” for Exports award from the U.S. Department of Commerce, a finalist position in the “Coolest Thing Made in California” competition and more. However, their most recent accolade doesn’t involve their products at all.
In 2024, Phenix founded the ground breaking “Opportunity for All” program to provide disabled community members with the opportunity to access career education, hands-on experience and employment opportunities through an 11 week training cohort. In this program, neurodivergent individuals wanting to find stable employment learn about standard hiring practices, writing a resume, effective interviewing and professional attire while getting on-the-job training with a partnered employer in the community. It has helped dozens of disabled community members to find a new sense of independence and achieve their full potential while helping local employers find dependable employees who bring a unique perspective to the workplace.
It’s for this program that the National Association of Workforce Development Boards (NAWB), a representative of over 570 workforce development boards across the United States, honored Phenix with the prestigious W.O. Lawton Business Leadership Award in late March.
“While we take tremendous pride in the products we make, we also believe we have a mission to create a better world through developing opportunities,” said Angel Sanchez, CEO of Phenix Technology in a statement released in early April. “Opportunity for All has helped prove that individuals who have historically been excluded from the workforce don’t just contribute — they elevate organizations. We are honored to receive this national award and grateful to the partners who have helped us make this vision a reality.”
CEO Angel Sanchez Jr. accepts the NAWB Award
Though “Opportunity for All” is certainly the cornerstone program for the company, Phenix’s leadership team was not satisfied to leave their mission there. Thus, in 2024, the company founded its nonprofit arm, Phenix Gateway to offer more programs and advocacy to the community. Through Phenix Gateway, the company offers workforce development workshops for individuals who don’t need the full scale of the “Opportunity for All” program, but want to improve a specific skill like resume writing or workplace social skills.
However, Phenix knows that preparing disabled people for the workforce is only one end of the equation; the workforce also has to be prepared to accept the unique skills, perspectives and challenges of the disabled community. For this reason, Phenix Gateway offers employer training workshops as well as educational materials available to businesses and the community. Training programs cover a lot of ground, ranging from assistance with optimizing interviews for people with neurodevelopmental disorders to creating sensory-friendly environments in the workplace.
In Riverside, these programs have had a huge impact on the local community. As of March 2025, Phenix’s Opportunity for All program has had over two dozen participants and 44% found stable employment through or after the program. Their one-off workforce development workshops have seen over 200 participants learn new skills and help them find employment and the nonprofit currently partners with close to 90 businesses to assist them in their endeavor to create a more inclusive workforce.
Phenix Gateway staff helps a program participant with his skills
For businesses or community members interested in learning how they can support or participate in these programs, Phenix encourages them to reach out by email to info@phenixgateway.org and to attend their First Annual Gala: Rising Together, A Phenix Gateway Celebration, on Thursday, May 15th. Tickets for this event are available at phenixgateway.org.
Empowering Economic Growth: CALED Conference Set to Unite Industry Leaders in Ontario
CALED’s ‘Growing Local Economies from the Ground Up’ Conference is being held in Ontario at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Ontario Airport on May 7-9. This event is co-hosted by the City of Ontario and San Bernardino County, with Jennifer McLain Hiramoto, CALED’s Chair of the Board and Derek Armstrong respectively representing their city and county as Co-Chairs of the event.
With over 950 members and 45 years of empowering economic developers, CALED is the largest economic development association in the country and the annual conference is the number one place to meet and connect with the boots-on-the -ground, decision makers in our communities.
The conference will include a pre-conference teaching tour, ‘Building & Paying for Development Projects’ on May 6th and then begin in full on May 7th, with a welcome session and breakouts. Overall, there will be four general assembly sessions and 18 breakout sessions, which will delve into local economic development practices and innovative tools.
In addition to compelling content, the conference will have numerous opportunities to connect with community leaders and valued peers through networking receptions, the culinary crawl, and new this year, the Tournament of Champions, where conference attendees will navigate a gauntlet of games to win the grand prize on the evening of Thursday, May 8th.
To learn more about the conference and register, visit the CALED website at www.caled.org.
Business
Strengthening Community Connections: Our Exciting New Partnership with Toyota Arena, Ontario Convention Center, and GOCAL
Contributed Content | By Chris Venhoff, Senior Vice President and Inland Empire Market Leader for Consumer and Business Banking at U.S. Bank
As the Inland Empire market leader for U.S. Bank, I’m thrilled to share some exciting news: we are proud to be the Official Bank Partner of Toyota Arena and Ontario Convention Center. This partnership represents a reflection of our deep commitment to the Inland Empire and our dedication to fostering a vibrant, thriving community.
At U.S. Bank, we believe that strong partnerships drive meaningful progress. Toyota Arena and Ontario Convention Center are at the heart of the region’s culture and economy, bringing people together for world-class entertainment, business conventions, and community events. By joining forces, we’re not only expanding our presence but also creating opportunities to engage with residents, businesses, and organizations in ways that make a lasting impact.
Through our sponsorship, we’ll support concerts, sporting events, and conventions that showcase the diversity and energy of the Inland Empire. But this is only the beginning. As our partnership evolves, we’ll work closely with Toyota Arena, Ontario Convention Center, and GOCAL to introduce community-focused programs, including financial literacy workshops and charitable giving initiatives.
This partnership is designed to bring added value to the people we serve. For our customers, we’re introducing the U.S. Bank Fast Pass Lanes, providing priority access at Toyota Arena events. Special offers, exclusive event experiences, and tailored financial solutions for businesses operating in the region are just a few of the many perks we’re excited to roll out.
Our employees are at the core of our success, and this partnership allows us to recognize their dedication. Through exclusive access to events, corporate hospitality opportunities, and community volunteer programs, our team will have new ways to engage with and celebrate the community they serve.
The Inland Empire is a dynamic, fast-growing region, and we’re committed to supporting its continued success. By investing in Toyota Arena and Ontario Convention Center, we’re helping to create and sustain jobs while driving local business growth. These venues bring in visitors, revenue, and visibility, strengthening the region’s economy.
This collaboration is about more than just sponsorship—it’s about making a difference. By working together, we can elevate not just these venues but the entire Inland Empire. At U.S. Bank, we’re committed to being a partner in progress, supporting our customers, businesses, and communities every step of the way.
|
Business Journal Newsletter
|
