As part of our ‘Partner Spotlight’ series, we introduce our 2022 ECOSYSTEM partner, Prospera. Prospera USA is an economic development, nonprofit organization specialized since 1991 in bilingual assistance to help start, sustain, and grow Hispanic-owned businesses. This organization currently offers services in Florida, North Carolina and Georgia. Prospera provides business consulting for Hispanic entrepreneurs, business seminars in Spanish, business grants, and access to capital.
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Describe your organization in 25 words or less.
Prospera is an economic development, nonprofit organization specialized in providing bilingual assistance to Hispanic entrepreneurs trying to establish or expand their business.
How does your organization support entrepreneurs?
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- BUSINESS CONSULTING – Prospera’s business development consultants assist both experienced and new entrepreneurs to identify needs, opportunities and resources so their business can achieve greater success.
- BUSINESS SEMINARS – Prospera offers ongoing business training in Spanish, for business owners to continue their entrepreneurial education. Seminars include orientations for new entrepreneurs or businesses, and workshops on a variety of topics that are relevant to any new or experienced entrepreneur.
- BUSINESS ADVANCEMENT SERVICES – Prospera offers clients grants for subcontracted professional services to advance their businesses. Delivered by a network of authorized local providers—lawyers, accountants, graphic designers and more—these services are vetted for quality and prompt assistance, to meet the individual needs of each client.
- ACCESS TO CAPITAL – Prospera offers clients guidance and support to access funding for their business from various sources. This may include credit improvement advice, introductions to potential lenders, loan application preparation for traditional and micro-loans, business plan development and business concept presentations.
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How has the NCIDEA #ECOSYSTEM grant helped your organization?
I think it’s important to mention how NC IDEA has worked with us in the past and how impactful that support was. We will NEVER stop bragging about how we secured our first largest multiyear grant in North Carolina to deploy programming in rural areas thanks to the pilot program Prospera deployedin 2018 in northern Mecklenburg County. Also, Prospera’s Raleigh office was established in part thanks to the first ecosystem grant. That office currently has two team members serving that region as we deliver on our mission in the Triangle.
What problem is your organization trying to solve?
Hispanics are entrepreneurial by nature and immigrants even more so. In terms of new business creation, the rate of new entrepreneurs in the United States has increased about 10 percent,according to a study by the Kauffman Foundation (2017). Hispanic immigrants are twice as likely to start a new business as someone born in the U.S. because they know that the opportunity for financial reward is higher than working as low-wage employees. However, the majority will fail if they don’t get the support they need. The issue is many new Hispanic entrepreneurs face tremendous challenges to set up and develop their businesses in the first two to three years.
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Hispanic immigrant entrepreneurs face barriers such as:
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- Limited or no business resources in their native language
- Because they are born and raised outside the U.S., they don’t know or trust the legal, accounting, taxation, or
licensing aspects of business - Lack of understanding of financial literacy, banking and access to capital
- They are accustomed to very different business cultures and processes
- They have been historically left behind.‎
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Therefore, the strategic approach is to assist Hispanic entrepreneurs by providing bilingual and in-culture services, early and often, as they first establish and later grow their business. The operational model is based on trusted guidance partnerships that reflect the needs of business owners and from their own perspective. It highlights the value of local, tailored, community-level support for businesses.
Please share any collaborative partners or relationships your organization has either directly in your community or within the broader NC entrepreneurial ecosystem.How do these partnerships help strengthen your respective work and/or missions?
Prospera’s 31-year experience assisting Hispanic-owned small businesses has allowed us to forge solid relationships in the communities we serve. Specific partnerships with government agencies,corporations, local chambers, foundations, community leaders, and faith-based organizations enable our team to quickly deploy programming in the areas identified in this proposal. We have created strategic partnerships in the state’s ecosystem to coordinate efforts and provide entrepreneurial support without “reinventing the wheel.” For example, Prospera currently works with local CDFIs, the Latin American Chamber of Commerce, the Hispanic Contractors Association, among others. These are two examples of
strategically coordinated efforts: https://tinyurl.com/ydyexj7f and https://tinyurl.com/2ksd6u5z.
Published January 17, 2024
Submission Provided by: José Alvarez (Vice President)
