Nothing lost in translation

There are entrepreneurs everywhere and we need them. Small business owners are the backbone of this country. DP

Spanish-language program teaches the basics of running a business in words immigrants can better understand

By JENALIA MORENO, Houston Chronicle

www.chron.com: Many in the classroom calculating business expenses and sales projections during a recent Saturday were what you might call dreamers.

Instead of turning a wrench, waiting a table or driving a nail for someone else, they want to join the more than 75,000 Hispanic business owners in the Houston area and be their own bosses.

They have the skill and the desire.

What they need to help them turn the dream into reality is someone to teach them the basics of starting and running a business in Texas.

Perhaps more important, they need someone to teach them in a language they can more easily understand.

That's what the Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the University of Houston Small Business Development Center hope their free 12-week, Spanish-language program for budding entrepreneurs will accomplish.

According to a recent nationwide study of immigrant entrepreneurship by New York's Center for an Urban Future, the language barrier was an important obstacle in the way of increased business ownership in Houston.

"A number of services that immigrant business owners might find useful are still only available in English, even though Hispanics now make up nearly 40 percent of Houston's population and Asians were the city's fastest growing group during the '90s," the study found.
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