"They knew how to adapt": how Latino businesses are better than before the pandemic

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1. The topic to highlight: Latino businesses after the pandemic

Latino-owned businesses in the US are more likely to say they have recovered from the effects of the pandemic and are doing better now than before than non-Hispanic white businesses, according to a new study.

Current Situation

: The State of Latino Entrepreneurship annual report from Stanford University, which is published today but was shared in advance with Axios Latino, summarizes the challenges and progress of the fastest growing business segment in the United States.

• Among the main factors behind the recovery sentiment is that Latino businesses have expanded their customer base, for example by becoming government suppliers.

• "They knew how to adapt," researcher Barbara Gomez-Aguinaga, associate director of the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative, tells Axios Latino.

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

In Numbers

: The Stanford University research group surveyed some 10,000 companies with at least one employee other than the owner and found that:

• 19% of Latino businesses and 18% of non-Hispanic white-owned businesses say they have recovered and are doing almost as well as they were before the pandemic.

• But 23% of Latino-owned businesses said they have rebounded and are doing

  better

  than before, compared to 18% of non-Hispanic white-owned businesses.

Big picture

: Despite having suffered disproportionately from the pandemic, Latino-owned businesses remain among the fastest growing in number of companies and in the revenue they generate, according to various studies and reports.

• This "growth is not only in the number of employer companies, but also in the income they generate and even in the payroll," says Gomez-Aguinaga.

Yes, but

: Latino companies are still struggling to access more financing to scale their businesses, and have had to grapple more acutely with recruiting issues that surfaced during the pandemic, according to the Stanford report.

• They are denied bank loans at higher rates than white businesses, even when they have similar credit scores or higher rates of income, the report says.

• That makes Latino businesses twice as likely to use personal or family savings for their operations.

Latino-owned businesses are fueling the US economy."

mikal quarles jpmorgan chase

And while they have diversified their clientele,

government contracts were 31 times smaller on average than those awarded to non-Hispanic white companies with the same line of business, according to the Stanford analysis.

• In addition, it took much longer for Latino companies to be approved for those contracts as suppliers.

• "So it's not just about who gets the contract and who doesn't," Gomez-Aguinaga lamented.

  The researcher said that the hope is that the information in the report can help both businesses and governments or banks to review their operations in the face of these challenges.

In his own words

: Mikal Quarles, JPMorgan Chase's acting director for corporate banking diversity strategies, tells Axios Latino that companies like his have initiatives to help more Hispanic entrepreneurs.

Among them, a loan and credit program for people who have historically not been approved who serve Latino neighborhoods.

• "As the fastest growing group of small businesses, Latino-owned businesses are fueling the US economy and driving growth activity, innovation and job creation," Quarles said.

2. New commotion over the death of Pablo Neruda

The Nobel Prize-winning Chilean poet who died nearly 50 years ago has died of poisoning, his family alleges based on a new report from forensic scientists.

Big Picture

: The cause of death of Neruda, who died days after the September 1973 coup, has been the subject of debate for decades.

• The official version has been that Neruda died of prostate cancer, but his family has long argued that cancer did not explain his sudden death.

• A 2017 analysis found traces of botulism in one of his molars.

  The body was then tested to see if the toxin, which is sometimes found in soil, had been introduced before burial.

A nephew of Pablo Neruda assures that forensic evidence shows that he died of poisoning

Feb 14, 202300:41

The Latest

: Neruda's family says the latest forensic tests by a team of experts from Canada, Denmark and Chile show Clostridium

, which can cause nervous system paralysis and death, was in Neruda's body since before he died.

• The report was delivered to a Santiago appeals court judge on Wednesday, although the full report has not been made public.

  The judge, Paola Plaza, said that she will review the information and on March 7 she will clarify what is next in the investigation.

• What is still unknown is who exactly could have poisoned Neruda.

  The poet's driver, Manuel Araya, has said that he believes that a dictatorship officer posing as a doctor injected Neruda with something during a visit to a clinic.

Count

Neruda, deceased at 69, was known for works such as "I can write the saddest verses tonight", included in the famous collection of poems

• He had also served as a senator for the Chilean Communist Party, was close to President Salvador Allende (overthrown in the 1973 coup) and had been criticized by right-wing factions in Latin America as well as by the US government of Richard Nixon.

To wit:

More than 3,000 people were killed, 40,000 were forcibly disappeared, and thousands more were detained during the Pinochet regime, which lasted from 1973 to 1990.

• During that period, various cultural figures were assassinated, such as the musician Víctor Jara or the orchestra composer Jorge Peña Hen.

3. The Latino star of the Super Bowl

Diana Flores, the flag football star who headlined a viral ad aired during the Super Bowl on Sunday, hopes the message of women's empowerment in sports will resonate beyond the ad.

General panorama

: Women's flag football, sometimes called tochito or

in English, has become increasingly popular in the Americas.

• Flores, the captain of the Mexican flag soccer team, is a world champion.

• He was also part of the Pro Bowl coaching staff this year for the AFC (NFL American Conference). 

In her own words

: "Having won the opportunity to be a part of this commercial fills me with pride... much more for having used the platform to remind the world that the power of sport can promote and strengthen the power of women", said Flores to Telemundo News.

This Mexican surrounded herself with NFL stars for a great commercial that empowers women

Feb 14, 202305:02

The stat

: Latinos have been in Super Bowls since at least 1978, when Mexican kicker Efrén Herrera played for the Dallas Cowboys, who won the SB XII title.

• Mexican Raúl Allegre won in 1986 and 1990 with the New York Giants, and Argentine Martín Gramática, also a kicker, won in 2003 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

• Isiah Pacheco, a running back of Puerto Rican descent, is a starter for this year's champion team, the Kansas City Chiefs.

4. Ron DeSantis Calls Book Bans "A Joke"

Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis says it was just "a joke" and an attempt to draw attention when a school district pulled a children's book about Afro-Puerto Rican baseball player Roberto Clemente from shelves.

The district argued that it was complying with a state law from the DeSantis administration.

Why It Matters

: Several recent state laws, including Florida's, limit discussions of race and gender issues.

This has led to the banning of some books and caused confusion for educators regarding their curricula.

Details

: DeSantis said at a news conference Tuesday that Duval County Public Schools' removal of Clemente's book was "outlandish," suggesting the district was trying to grab headlines.

Ron DeSantis James A. Jones Jr./The Bradenton Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

• "I think they're doing it unilaterally to try to create a problem," said DeSantis, who is rumored to be running for president in 2024.

• DeSantis noted that new state laws limiting diversity discussions are intended to regulate pornography and sex act books.

Yes, but

: Clemente's book is just one of 1.6 million titles in school libraries that have had to be withdrawn for review by a specialist, who must ensure that the contents comply with the law, according to a Duval spokesperson.

• And other Florida school districts have also removed books that are diversity-themed or written by Black, Latino, Native American or Asian people.

• Laws similar to those in Florida have also led to book bans in Texas and other states.

5. Summary of key news in Latin America and the Caribbean

1. The Panamanian authorities tried

this Thursday to identify the 40 people who died on Wednesday when a truck carrying migrants derailed.

• The bus was headed to a migrant shelter near the border with Costa Rica.

Illustration: Natalie Peeples/Axios

2. Brazilian police

have dismantled a massive illegal gold mining operation in the Amazon, authorities said Wednesday.

• The gold was reportedly exported to countries including Switzerland, Italy, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates.

3. The UN office in Honduras

set off alarms this week given the increase in murders of activists in a region in the north of the country.

• At least five environmental, land and human rights defenders have been killed this year, the UN said.

 Pachanga Thursday

Photo courtesy of George Alvarez.

Background Illustration by Axios Visuals

This space is dedicated today to George Alvarez, architect for vehicle safety at the construction and agricultural services company CNH Industrial.

He tells us that he recently co-founded the first multicultural employee resource group (ERG) at his company.

• He is also the inaugural president of the ERG, which like others of its kind will seek to promote diversity and inclusion.

  Congratulations!

Thanks for reading us!

We return on Tuesday.

 Do you want to read any of the previous editions?

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