On Thursday, March 20th, the LIBRE Initiative will host the “Hispanic Family-Owned Business Forum: Strategies on Managing Your Business Your Family.”

The Hispanic Chamber of E-Commerce invites you to participate on this event. Valuable resources are going to be provided to Hispanic family-owned businesses from around San Antonio area. 

Business owners, family entrepreneurs, experts and government officials will share their advice on growing and overcoming the challenges of owning a family business. LIBRE’s National Coalitions and Entrepreneurship Director Mike Barrera will be moderating the forum.

Michael Barrera, LIBRE National Director of Coalitions and Entrepreneurship, released the following statement:

 "Family owned businesses are the backbone of the economy - accounting for 78 percent of job creation in America - and they are especially important for the Hispanic community. Almost 90 percent of Hispanic entrepreneurs say they started their business as a way to provide financially for those closest to them - and Hispanic family owned business are growing at twice the national average. Starting and growing a family b usiness is always a challenge, but that's especially true in a weak economy. This event will help people navigate issues specific to family owned business and inform them about how to plan for succession, obtain financing, and deal with questions like health care, which can be critical to business success."

Mr. Barrera oversees coalition building efforts with Hispanic and business groups, helps grow LIBRE’s community outreach and serves as a national and regional spokesperson for the organization. Mr. Barrera previously served as President of the Business Information Clearinghouse (BIC), a national non-profit that provided multi-lingual business resources for entrepreneurs. Mr. Barrera also served as President and CEO of the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC), an organization that represented over 2 million Hispanic businesses and local chambers nationwide. Prior to the USHCC, Mr. Barrera served as the National Ombudsman for the United States Small Business Administration (SBA) where he assisted small businesses in regulatory disputes with federal regulators. He also led the SBA’s Office of Capital Access, which oversaw a $76 billion dollar loan portfolio, the Office of Government Contracting/Business Development, the Office of Entrepreneurial Development and helped launch a highly successful Business Matchmaking program, a federal government and corporate procurement initiative. In 2008, Latin Business Magazine named Mr. Barrera as one of the top 100 influential Hispanics in Business. In 2007, Diversity Business.Com named him as one of America’s Top Diversity Advocates; a list that included former President Bill Clinton and Oprah Winfrey.