The number of Latino-owned U.S. businesses grew by 31 percent to nearly 1.6 million - a growth rate three times the national average of 10 percent for all businesses. In Utah, the total number of businesses outstripped the national average, increasing by 14 percent, but Latino-owned companies fell behind, growing by only 9 percent. Latinos owned 51 percent or more of 5,177 Utah businesses in 2002.
In contrast, New York, which led the nation in growth, saw a 57 percent increase. Rhode Island, Georgia, Nevada and South Carolina, which also had increases of around 50 percent, completed the top five.
"Markets [in other states] are maturing more rapidly. The Utah market is still in its slow growth period," says Robert Spendlove, director of Demographic and Economic Analysis for the Utah Governor's Office. "One can look at it as a problem or an opportunity. . . . Demand for Hispanic products in Utah is expanding dramatically."
Utah's Latino population grew by 138 percent in the 1990s and an additional 26 percent between 2000 and 2004, Spendlove says. There were close to 250,000 Latinos living in Utah in 2004, according to the American Community Survey.
Plus, the majority of Utah's Latino-owned firms - 83 percent - are one-person enterprises, indicating a segment that is poised for more rapid growth, Spendlove says.
"It's probably happening now. I would expect [Utah] to exceed national trends going forward."
Carlos Linares, executive director of the Utah Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, agrees. His organization has grown to 200 members, and he says more Latino entrepreneurs are moving to Utah.
"People are seeing our employment growth and standard of living and considering [Utah] as a home or as a place of business," Linares says. "We're just at the brink of an explosive market in Utah as far as Latino-owned businesses."
Luz Robles, director of the Utah Office of Ethnic Affairs, says Latino business owners in Utah may have been undercounted in the Census report and that the information is dated. The Survey of Business Owners is released only every five years and then it contains data that is four years old.
Legislation that would have enabled Utah to collect its own data on women and minority-owned businesses failed to pass in the 2006 session. Robles says such information is crucial.
"Having data from 2002 does us a disservice. We might be surprised at the numbers we have in 2006," Robles says. "More accurate and more current data collection . . . helps policymakers make better decisions."
Utah's Latino-owned firms were primarily concentrated in construction, retail, health care and social services, and professional, scientific and technical services, according to the 2002 Survey of Business Owners.
Lorena Riffo-Jenson, a native of Chile, and Vanessa Di Palma, a native of Uruguay, launched DPR Communications, a Salt Lake City-based marketing and public relations company, in November 2003. The pair started with a $20,000 contract and now employ two staff members and generated $250,000 in sales in 2005.
The business specializes in reaching Latino populations, handling contracts such as a public outreach campaign to Utah's Spanish-speaking population for the Utah Department of Transportation.
"When I moved to Utah [26 years ago] there were 30,000 Latinos. Now there are 250,000," Riffo-Jenson says. "We felt that we wanted to increase the quality of the work, the strategies being created to reach Spanish-speaking Latinos in Utah."
rwinters@sltrib.com
