By: Donna Balancia
Owning and running a business is a long journey, and the “POSiBLE LA Entrepreneur Expo” for Hispanic and Latino business owners to be held at the Pasadena Convention Center on Saturday is designed to help smooth out the road ahead.
POSiBLE LA Entrepreneur Expo, organized by Univision Los Angeles, returns for the third year with workshops, discussions and panels that empower and enable aspiring entrepreneurs to start or grow their business. Presenting sponsor is Wells Fargo.
Among those presenting are:
– Carlos Marquez who will give a keynote address titled “La Nueva Era del Comercio en Tiempos de Cambios (The New Era of Business During Times of Change)
– Financial expert Julie Stav of Julie Stav Inc. who will deliver a keynote address on using your smartphone to grow your business
– Andrea Gonzalez, anchor for Noticias 34, who will moderate a discussion titled “Latinas de éxito” (Successful Latinas)
– Nely Galan, founder of the Adelante Movement, who will give a keynote address titled “Nelly Galan y Adelante America.” Galan’s address focuses on five women she mentored who will also be there to share their stories.
The Hispanic business community is a critical segment in Southern California, said Luis Patino, president and general manager of Univision Local Media in Los Angeles, at Univision Communications Inc.
“Southern California has a huge, burgeoning and growing small business population that’s made up of Latinos and Latinas,” Patino said. “With LA’s population being over 50 percent Latino, that was the impetus for us launching this platform.”
Patino is the first to admit the media company may not necessarily be the ultimate expert on the business topics, but Univision has the ability to gather the big names to meet with the business people and make the connection.
“The small business growth numbers are some of the fastest growing numbers we see across the country,” Patino said. “You may ask yourself why would a media company embark on a project like this, but what we are good at is convening and bringing people together and partnering with the domain experts like the Small Business Administration.”
Go here for tickets to POSiBLE LA
He said two groups in particular will benefit from going to the event.
“We’re using the power of media to bring together the power of all of these different experts to two segments of the business communities: The people who have a business but they don’t know how to scale, that’s on segment,” Patino said. “The others are those entrepreneurs who don’t know how to start They have a wonderful idea or what they think is a wonderful idea and they don’t know how to begin, those are the two groups we’re focusing on.”
For those who have a business and want to grow it, there will be a special focus.
“Our research shows that the area we have seen where there is most interest is ‘How do I take my one restaurant or cleaners and ‘What do I need to grow my business,’” Patino said. “That’s the one area where we see these companies falter. They start and then they get to a point where they can’t grow and many of them falter because of that.”
Wells Fargo will host two panels during the summit: “The ABCs of Finance,” which will focus on the fundamentals of financing a small business and “Preparing Today for a Better Future Tomorrow,” addressing the importance of key business practices to ensure financial stability.
Patino said on hand will be several organizations focused on the multicultural space and female entrepreneurship.
“There are a lot of organizations who are looking to help female entrepreneurs as it relates to scalability,” he said. Patino said that the group is privileged to present Galan as her group Adelante has made powerful inroads into the women’s business community.
Pasadena is a great place to hold the event for several reasons, Patino said.
As far as holding the event in Pasadena, the location is superb, said Patino. And there’s a strong history between the media company, the Hispanic business community and the City of Pasadena.
“This is our second year in Pasadena we find the Pasadena Convention Center centrally located and we have had a great experience with them,” he said. “We have a huge partnership with the Rose Parade Committee because for many years Univision is the Spanish-Language broadcaster of the Rose Parade nationally.
POSiBLE LA Entrepreneur Expo
Pasadena Convention Center
300 E. Green Street, Pasadena
Registration begins at 7:30 a.m.
Event: 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Tickets are available here
Source: Pasadena Now
