5/20/2014
AUSTIN, Texas – The idea behind Latina Hope is simple: to offer Hispanic women in South Texas the tools they need to start small craft businesses or make those they already operate more professional.
But behind that simple facade “the seeds of business are being sown in the area,” Eduardo Millet, vice president of business development and governmental affairs at the Chamber of Commerce in the border city of McAllen, told Efe.
Established three years ago by the Chamber, Wells Fargo and United Way, the program has already helped around 140 women.
Latina Hope provides free classes to women who own or are going to start a small business to augment the family income.
The program helps women to run their small businesses more professionally, selling candles, household ornaments, quilts, knitted items or natural soaps.
A case in point is the situation of Norma Rodriguez, 35, who has been making assorted soaps for the past three years and attended the latest edition of the course.
She has already seen changes in her business: now when she plans she keeps her customer profile in mind, targeting customers between 26 and 40 years of age, and when she sells an item she never neglects to remind buyers that they can remain in contact with her on her Web page and via the social networks.
“Before the course, I had never thought much about the type of customer who’s buying the soap from me,” she told Efe. “I’ve opened myself up to being more social with other businesswomen.”
She markets her products at events in the area and in stores in McAllen, although she hopes to grow her business because she knows “the things that are moving, what’s in style.”
Millet says that the “road to market” is one of the basic elements of the course, which helps women find flea markets and craft Web sites where they can sell their products.
Census figures show that household income in the four counties making up the Rio Grande Valley is around half the national median.
More than 85 percent of the Valley’s roughly 1.3 million residents are of Latino origin, and it’s an area where Spanish is often heard on the streets.
Latina Hope classes are given in Spanish.
source
AUSTIN, Texas – The idea behind Latina Hope is simple: to offer Hispanic women in South Texas the tools they need to start small craft businesses or make those they already operate more professional.But behind that simple facade “the seeds of business are being sown in the area,” Eduardo Millet, vice president of business development and governmental affairs at the Chamber of Commerce in the border city of McAllen, told Efe.
Established three years ago by the Chamber, Wells Fargo and United Way, the program has already helped around 140 women.
Latina Hope provides free classes to women who own or are going to start a small business to augment the family income.
The program helps women to run their small businesses more professionally, selling candles, household ornaments, quilts, knitted items or natural soaps.
A case in point is the situation of Norma Rodriguez, 35, who has been making assorted soaps for the past three years and attended the latest edition of the course.
She has already seen changes in her business: now when she plans she keeps her customer profile in mind, targeting customers between 26 and 40 years of age, and when she sells an item she never neglects to remind buyers that they can remain in contact with her on her Web page and via the social networks.
“Before the course, I had never thought much about the type of customer who’s buying the soap from me,” she told Efe. “I’ve opened myself up to being more social with other businesswomen.”
She markets her products at events in the area and in stores in McAllen, although she hopes to grow her business because she knows “the things that are moving, what’s in style.”
Millet says that the “road to market” is one of the basic elements of the course, which helps women find flea markets and craft Web sites where they can sell their products.
Census figures show that household income in the four counties making up the Rio Grande Valley is around half the national median.
More than 85 percent of the Valley’s roughly 1.3 million residents are of Latino origin, and it’s an area where Spanish is often heard on the streets.
Latina Hope classes are given in Spanish.
source
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