Women-led group dedicated toward Latino entrepreneurs forms

A celebratory launch for Emprendimiento Latino 5M, a new group looking to empower Latino entrepreneurs in the Corridor, took place Dec. 3 at MERGE in Iowa City. The organization’s goal is to assist Latino entrepreneurs in starting and growing a small business, particularly concerning struggles specific to the Latino community like language and capital barriers. […]

A celebratory launch for Emprendimiento Latino 5M, a new group looking to empower Latino entrepreneurs in the Corridor, took place Dec. 3 at MERGE in Iowa City. The organization’s goal is to assist Latino entrepreneurs in starting and growing a small business, particularly concerning struggles specific to the Latino community like language and capital barriers. Previously known as Colectivo de Mujures en Negocio (COMUN), the group of five women worked closely for two years to launch their own businesses. After seeing others in the Latino community face similar questions they had, the group felt compelled to rebrand and take on more responsibility in supporting business owners in the region. “After we realized that we were supporting each other, other people started coming out of the woodwork saying, ‘Hey, you're helping each other. Can you help me?,' said Marlén Mendoza, the group's co-founder and a co-founder of the South District Diversity Market, to the audience. "We realized that this is not just a project of friendship led by women. This is something that the community needs. We were providing these services for free to our friends and we realized we couldn't keep doing that.”

Serving the community

The new program fills a void in Iowa City, as the group noticed there is no one solely dedicated to guiding the Latino or Hispanic community through the pitfalls of entrepreneurship in the Iowa City area. “I think there’s a lot of community leaders that wear a lot of different hats,” said Marlen Mendoza, a co-founder for the organization. “I came back to the community two years ago. The other [co-founders] said they felt no one has ever taken them seriously... they’ve been looking for support but they haven’t had it.”  The group anticipates starting an entrepreneurship academy with personalized business classes exclusively for Spanish speakers, leadership workshops hosted by bilingual Spanish-speaking business owners, offering translation services for new business owners and connecting individuals with events and city-led programs and referrals.

In addition to forming Emprendimiento Latino 5M, the co-founders own small businesses. They are: Marlen Mendoza of Mendoza Consulting; Marcela Hurtado of Delicia’s Marcela; Maria Cachua of CachuaCakes LLC; Maria Teresa of the recently opened La Mexicana Taqueria y Tienda on 1701 2nd Street in Coralville; and Janet Marcelino of Artesania de Colores.  Through the help of Ms. Mendoza and the other 5M members, Ms. Cachua learned what permits are required to run a baking business out of a home. She now sells cakes, sweets and baked goods from her hometown of Jalisco, Mexico and caters to events. “There are a lot of small business owners, not just Latinos, that don’t have the right permits,” said Ms. Mendoza. Since permit documents must be filed in English according to Iowa code, Emprendimiento Latino 5M will train people to complete the correct permits in English on behalf of business owners. Latinos make up the largest minority group in Iowa, or approximately 6% of the total population. But the Small Business Development Corporation (SBDC) employs just one translator fluent in Spanish for the entire state.  In May, Emprendimiento Latino 5M members met with the Mexican embassy based out of Omaha, Nebraska in Iowa City – the first time the embassy has sent representatives to Iowa City.  After the visit, the embassy contacted the group and invited interested individuals to participate in a dream builders program, giving the participants more knowledge and resources through online classes in Spanish. They were the first cohort in Iowa to complete the program, consisting of eight participants.

Vision for the future

Ms. Mendoza is not sure if the group will become a nonprofit, but they are in the process of building out a board of directors and bringing in sponsors. Their plan is included in the Better Together 2030: All In Vision with Johnson County. The group’s larger vision is to expand beyond Iowa City and impact business owners in Cedar Rapids and the Quad Cities.  “We cannot do it alone,” said Ms. Mendoza, noting that 5M is already with working with the Iowa City Area Development Group (ICAD), Iowa City Area Business Partnership (ICABP), the Mexican embassy, America’s Small Business Development Center in Iowa, League of United Latin American Citizens, local cities, the South District SSMID and the University of Iowa. Emprendimiento Latino 5M also hopes to be a host organization for the Mexican embassy, allowing Mexican nationals to complete the equivalent of a high school GED degree entirely online. Ms. Mendoza wants to generate future fundraising opportunities and attract more sponsors, which will make networking events and the acquisition of office space possible. “We're not very well connected yet, but we want to be able to create an ecosystem because that's how we create wealth,” she said.