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Hispanics' businesses booming
The story of Yellobee Studio in Midtown Atlanta goes a long way toward explaining why Georgia is the fifth-fastest-growing state in the country in creating new Hispanic-owned businesses.
Dario Lizcano and his wife, Alison Scheel, founded the graphic arts and marketing company in 1998, but the business really took off three years ago when it ramped up marketing its services to the Hispanic community.
"Since we have incorporated a Hispanic strategy, we have grown tremendously," said Lizcano, whose family is from Colombia. "It's such a growing market, it's hard for companies to ignore it. But you have to understand the Hispanic market. You have to understand the jargon and that, even though they all speak Spanish, [there are] differences between people from different countries."
According to a recently released U.S. Bureau of the Census report, the number of Hispanic-owned businesses in Georgia increased by 56 percent from 1997 to 2002 -- from 11,741 to 18,310. Although more current data aren't available, indications are that the trend continues and that more programs and larger networking events are being created to fuel the growth.
The recent annual gala for the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce is an example of the networking opportunities.
Livia Whisenhunt, owner of one of the gala's sponsors, PS Energy Group, says she has seen the pattern many times since she founded her energy transportation company 20 years ago.
She cites the example of a relative who opened a mortgage company that could help Spanish-speaking clients, which spawned related businesses.
"My cousin has a mortgage company, and he has a friend who sells insurance, and they work with another person who can do your taxes," Whisenhunt said. "So a customer can come to one and do all three. It's an extensive network."
Whisenhunt's company predates the trend documented in the Census Bureau report, but hers is one of the state's biggest success stories. Like many entrepreneurs, she struck out on her own after leaving a similar business with a big company.
She started distributing gas and diesel fuel on her own and seized opportunities over the years to create proprietary credit cards for fuel.
When natural gas was deregulated in Georgia, her company became the state's first retail marketer for the product.
The growth landed PS Energy at No. 44 on HispanicBusiness.com's 2006 list of the top 500 Hispanic-owned firms. Whisenhunt's company reported revenues of $160 million in 2005.
The growth of Hispanic-owned businesses in Georgia isn't surprising, considering the number of people moving to the state from Spanish-speaking countries. More than 100 Hispanics arrive in Georgia every day, and it stands to reason that many possess the same entrepreneurial spirit as past generations of American immigrants.
Gerald Escobar exemplifies that entrepreneurial ingenuity -- the ability to spot a need for a service and create an enterprise to fill the void.
He opened Alpharetta-based Asset Archives four years ago, after he sought to document the possessions in his mother's home and couldn't find a professional service to do the job.
"I assumed insurance companies provided that service, but they don't," Escobar said.
He and a partner created a software program that inventories, updates and shares information about the contents of homes.
The inventory is useful to insurance companies and estate planners, and the business has been successful enough to expand into South Carolina. Escobar said he is planning offices in New York and Florida.
Escobar's family has been mobile in pursuit of opportunity. Years ago, his parents moved to Newport News, Va., from Colombia. He moved from Newport News to Atlanta in 1996 because of the economic activity he expected to result from the Olympics that summer.
Both Escobar's Asset Archives and Lizcano's Yellobee Studio benefited from Kennesaw State University's Small Business Development Center programs.
The center is one of 19 throughout Georgia that provides funding information, marketing plans and business advice to everyone but also offers programs especially for minorities and employs bilingual consultants.
Eduardo Lopez, based at the University of Georgia in Athens, is one of two Spanish-speaking consultants working for the Small Business Development Center network. The second bilingual consultant was hired recently to help Spanish-speaking entrepreneurs through the Georgia State University office.
Lopez, who was born in Mexico, said that he sees anecdotal evidence that the growth in Hispanic-owned businesses identified in the Census Bureau report continues but that it's hard to quantify without the detailed surveys the federal government produces.
He said a recent effort to quantify Hispanic-owned businesses in Clarke County identified 200 based on the sound of the name or services provided. But the problem with that unscientific method was exposed with the follow-up verification, which cut that number nearly in half.
"There's no block to check that says 'Latino' when you get your business license," Lopez said.
