One of the first things Adriana Dawson did when she joined the R.I. Small Business Development Center in 2002 was to conduct a needs assessment, which resulted in the center’s first Latino business initiative. It started with a three-week business planning course in Spanish and has grown to include two 12-week courses per year, plus a fall Latino Business Expo. And the center now has four bilingual employees. After the center moved from Bryant University to Johnson & Wales University six months ago, Dawson became regional director for Central Falls and Pawtucket, the region where she grew up.
PBN: What do you see as the greatest need for small business owners in that area?
DAWSON: The support network, the infrastructure. The northern Rhode Island corridor, when it comes to the emerging minority population and business community, it’s a new immigrant population, people that have been here less than 10 years. What I’m finding is, they are uncomfortable navigating the network. … For those that do take the initiative to go into business, it’s simply because of sheer determination. … There is a huge need to increase the awareness of these entrepreneurs as far as resources that they have access to.
PBN: What kinds of resources do they need?
DAWSON: Networking events, access to capital, having a better understanding of the municipal system as far as zoning and permits.
PBN: What is the landscape of small business in that area?
DAWSON: It’s primarily retail and service. When you’re talking about the new immigrant community, they’re primarily concentrated in certain pockets. The majority of them are on Broad Street in Central Falls and on Dexter Street, on Broadway in Pawtucket. One of the things we are trying to do … is helping them think outside of the niche marketplace.
They tend to gravitate to what they know and to the community they’re familiar with, mostly the Spanish-speaking community.
PBN: Do you focus your services on the new immigrant population in that region?
DAWSON: No, not necessarily. I meet with all business owners. But it just so happens [that] when people find out I’m bilingual, they come to me. … Probably 60 percent of the clients I’m seeing now fall under the minority umbrella. … In my area, [they are] primarily from Central and South America.
PBN: Why did you start the year with a series of “lending forums” for banks?
DAWSON: I’m finding that a lot of the lenders in that particular area are very curious as to how the SBDC has been able to sustain its presence in the Latino business community. How we’re able, by way of our Latino Business Expo, to get 500 attendees. … What we’re looking to do is share with the lenders some of our insight as to how they could potentially be more proactive, have a level of cultural core competencies that would give them more access to this community.
PBN: What are things lenders can do to attract these clients?
DAWSON: I think it starts with looking at their marketing material … because it certainly cannot be a cookie-cutter approach. I know everyone is on a limited budget, but when you’re talking about spending thousands of dollars on a full-page color ad or a television commercial, they really have to determine whether for this particular market, that’s effective. … All of us involved in this northern Rhode Island strategy are invested in the philosophy of developing a grassroots approach where everything is word of mouth.
PBN: How can lenders develop word-of-mouth marketing in this community?
DAWSON: It could be as simple as becoming a co-sponsor to community events. … It could be facilitating a workshop with the SBDC. … It could be identifying bilingual staff that works in their small business lending side to teach some of the workshops. … Those are some quick ideas that don’t cost a lot of money, that have nothing to do with your traditional marketing strategies. … In our community, trust is such a big thing, and loyalty is such a big thing.
PBN: What issues do lenders need to be aware of with this community?
DAWSON: It’s not as black and white as people think it is. Yes, there are issues with credit but it goes back to the whole sensitivity of understanding, in some of the countries that these individuals come from, credit score doesn’t exist. So you’re starting from scratch. … I think in the reality we live in, it could help the lender to come off as being a little bit more sensitive. … Instead of a definitive no, they could say, “Here are some of the resource partners you can go to that can help you.” … That’s why that support system, that infrastructure, we’re trying to create is so important. … It’s so that the client doesn’t fall through the cracks … and the lender can benefit by having a potential bankable client.
PBN: How is the SBDC trying to ensure that happens?
DAWSON: What we’re trying to do to bridge the gap is work with our existing entrepreneur base to explain to them the importance of credit, the benefits of having a checking account, the importance of filing their taxes correctly. So we’re building awareness on this side. On the other side, we’re raising awareness in the lending community … so that the two can come together nicely.
Adriana Dawson
POSITION: Regional director for Pawtucket and Central Falls, R.I. Small Business Development Center
BACKGROUND: Dawson started her career in corporate communications at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. While in graduate school, she was recruited by the director of a state government program, The Affirmative Market, which ensures equal access for women- and minority-owned businesses in the procurement process for statewide contracts. She worked there for four years before moving back to her native Rhode Island. She joined the SBDC in 2002 as assistant state director.
EDUCATION: B.A. in communication studies, 1998, Northeastern University, Boston; M.A. in management communications and public policy, 2000, Emerson College, Boston
RESIDENCE: Providence
AGE: 31
