The Latino Business Expo aims to build relationships not only between small business owners within the Hispanic community, but also with business owners outside of it.
Many non-Spanish-speaking business owners think this expo is not for them, said Adriana Dawson, the expo’s founder and the R.I. Small Business Development Center’s regional director for Pawtucket and Central Falls.
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“What I’m trying to do is make sure more mainstream businesses see value in attending,” she said. “It’s a cross-cultural networking event.”
About 100 businesses will exhibit at the fourth annual expo, to be held this Friday from 4 to 9 p.m. at Rhodes-on-the-Pawtuxet in Cranston. Admission is free.
Dawson said that, for Latino business owners, the expo is an opportunity to expand their horizons beyond the Latino community. “[The expo] helps them envision themselves outside their neighborhood, to venture into new markets.”
For non-Latino businesses, Dawson said, it’s an opportunity to diversify their client base or find new ways to market to Latinos, a community whose influence continues to grow.
Nationwide, Latinos’ buying power is now about $798 billion – roughly 8 percent of the U.S. economy, according to the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia. Next year, the center projects, their buying power will grow by 8 percent, to $863 billion.
The lending community has taken notice.
Dawson said Citizens Bank, Sovereign Bank and Bank of America were three of the expo’s first sponsors, and have returned each year. Domestic Bank, which is also returning, became a sponsor last year, she said. And this year, Coastway Credit Union and Cox Communications have added their sponsorship.
The office of the lieutenant governor has sponsored the event in the past – but, according to SBDC executive director John Cronin, it cannot do so this year because Lt. Gov. Charles J. Fogarty is running for governor. “It would be a violation of our federal contract to allow one candidate to sponsor the event” in an election year, Cronin said.
“This is a nonpartisan event,” he added.
Citizens Bank sees its participation as a form of outreach to the Latino community, according to Maureen Stolhammer, the bank’s vice president and regional manager for the Providence metro region.
“The Hispanic community is one of the fastest-growing communities in Rhode Island,” she said. “We’re trying to establish relationships.”
At last year’s expo, a Citizens Bank representative showed people how to bank online, Stolhammer said. The goal is to build the community’s trust. “It’s great for us,” she said.
Attending the expo is “great” for many vendors, Dawson said.
For example, a Central Falls bakery last year found other bakeries and stores that wanted to buy and resell its product, Dawson said. And a Latin American artist found corporate buyers for her paintings and sculpture.
