The fearless Latinx have transformed our communities and the world, with many contributing to many industries, such as, arts & entertainment, film, hospitality, science & technology, social justice, entrepreneurship, medicine and much more. Every year we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. It is a month designated to highlight, honor, and recognize the Latinx communities’ important achievements that have influenced and contributed to this country. Although Hispanic Heritage Month has come to an end, we should continue to appreciate the hard work and dedication behind many Latinx entrepreneurs and innovators all year long. So, let’s take this opportunity to honor while speaking out about the ongoing setbacks many Latinx business owners still face.
Currently, the opportunities to start a business are still unfairly harder for Latinx people than white people and come with a more significant risk of rejection, especially when seeking business loans. According to a Small Business Credit Study by the Federal Reserve Banks, 45% of the Latinx applicants got denied for insufficient credit history, while white applicants had a rate of only 33%. Credit loans and access to capital are just a few of the challenges that Latinx business owners face when starting their businesses, despite growing bigger annually than white-owned businesses.
As we celebrate the triumphs, successes and contributions of the Latinx community, past and present, here are just a few Latinx entrepreneurs disrupting industries and inspiring others to dream:
Tania Zapata, Founder of Akily
Serial entrepreneur Tania Zapata is the founder of Akily, an app that provides face-to-face developmental activities for parents, nannies to do with their children at home. Akily’s mission is to democratize children’s development. Zapata is also the former founder of Voice123, the first marketplace of its kind, which allows companies such as Disney, Pandora, Pixar, Spotify, History Channel, Warner Brothers and many others to find voice-over artists without the use of agents. Voice123 has been recently sold backstage.
Born in Colombia Zapata came to the states at the age of 18, where she worked as a receptionist at a Miami-based radio station; while learning English, she began to develop Voice123 to solve the inefficiencies in the industry in terms of connecting offer and demand.
“Our goal (my co-founder and I) was to make sure voice actors could have control of their own business by controlling how they were found and cast. At the time, I was a voice-over actress and knew how difficult it was to break into the industry, even more so for a Spanish-speaking voice actress,” States Zapata.
Zapata saw inefficiencies in the industry in terms of connecting…
Read More: Meet The Six Latinx Entrepreneurs Disrupting Industries