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Latino entrepreneurs draw on family values for business ethics

In the Latino world, do business, family and ethics mix?

In the Latino world, do business, family and ethics mix?

In addition, a trend of the fast growth (64 percent) by Hispanic women-owned firms in Arizona since 1997 begs the question: Do Latinas bring their strong family values into the workplace?

Studies by economic researchers and interviews with Valley business owners show that in most Hispanic family-owned businesses, family moral values become the business' ethics.

As entrepreneurs, Hispanic Arizonans own more than 35,000 businesses that generate receipts of $4.3 billion, according to the DATOS 2006 Hispanic market report. The majority of these are family owned, with less than 10 employees.

David Farca is founder/owner of a Touch of History, a furniture, architectural, and design business. He is the third generation of family entrepreneurs. Originally from Mexico City, he started his business in Scottsdale in 1997.

He believes that Latinos naturally transfer family values to their business enterprises. In fact, the vision for Touch of History arose from he and his wife's shopping for home furniture.

"We like to decorate and find fine things for our home, so we turned our passion into our business," he says.

In addition, he says, customer service is a no-brainer if you treat your clients like a family member. "Treat the customer like you would like to be treated," he advises.

Barbara Robles is an associate professor at the ASU Center for Community Development & Civil Rights. Her family's legacy in Texas eventually led her to contribute a section on Latinos to the 2006 economics book, The Color of Wealth (The New Press).

She had a great aunt who ran a Spanish-language moviehouse. Other women relatives also were entrepreneurs. As a teen, Robles was enlisted to run the popcorn machine, soda pop stand, and cash register. Her financial literacy as an economics researcher is grounded in her family memories.

"Their skills included saving, budgeting, sewing, upholstering, dollmaking, canning, and gardening: life skills and commonsense financial management practiced at the home level," Robles writes in Wealth.

Farca adds that Latino families and related businesses are extremely sensitive to community social pressure.

"Much of our business ethics has to do with our reputation in the Latino community," he says. "We are a very close community. Take advantage of people in your business, and your career as a businessperson is going to fail."