5 Secure Funding Opportunities for Hispanic-Owned Small Businesses

If you're among the 300,000-plus Hispanic-owned businesses in the U.S., check out these ideas on funding opportunities aimed at helping your business succeed and grow.

Camino Financial 

Twin brothers Sean and Kenny Salas noticed a need when their mother, an entrepreneur, lost her restaurant business due to a lack of funding and resources. So, in 2014, the brothers launched Camino Financial to assist Hispanic entrepreneurs in acquiring low-cost financing.

According to its website, the goal of Camino Financial is to support U.S. small businesses, believe in ideas, and invest in opportunities. It adds that they foster economic growth in overlooked communities by providing capital to underrepresented micro-entrepreneurs. 

Camino Financial offers loans up to $400,000 with monthly interest rates ranging from 1% to 2.5% and repayment terms of 24 to 60 months. Resources are also available in Spanish and English.

The company shares that compared to other banking organizations, they have more lenient loan requirements. Their terms are generally determined by a small business's cash flow, credit report, and the intended use of the funds.

To qualify for a business loan from Camino Financial, your company must have been in business for a minimum of nine months and generate $30,000 in annual sales, or $2,500 each month.

CDFI Fund

You might want to locate local institutions or groups that have received certification from the Community Development Financial Institution Fund of the U.S. Treasury.

The lack of funding for marginalized communities and people, particularly small enterprises, is a problem that the CDFI fund was created to address.

By providing funding, training, research, and advocacy support to member institutions, the CDFI Fund, according to its website, enables them to invest in their communities by constructing affordable housing, ensuring equitable neighborhood development, fostering the growth of small businesses, and offering financial counseling on topics like building credit and owning a home. 

Accion Opportunity Fund (AOF)

Nonprofit Accion Opportunity Fund, according to its website, offers financial and other types of support to Hispanic and other minority-owned businesses across the U.S., with a range of loans, educational resources, coaching, and support networks in English and Spanish.

The Fund has loans from $5,000 to $100,000, with interest rates as low as 5.99 percent.

The AOF says it sees small business owners and their funding requests from a different perspective. "You're not just a number. We look at more than just your credit score to determine business viability."

Small businesses can get customized loans and repayment terms. "No two businesses are alike, so we structure loans that work for your business, not someone else’s," the AOF says.

National Community of Latino Asset Builders (NALCAB)

The National Community of Latino Asset Builders, or  NALCAB, is a CDFI-certified grantmaker with offices in San Antonio and Washington, D.C., assisting primarily low- and moderate-income Latino neighborhoods that lack adequate access to financial products.

With the aim of assisting the expansion of their financing to Latino business owners, NALCAB engages in intermediary lending to small business lenders (including CDFIs and prospective CDFIs), the group says. 

It also offers secured and unsecured loans to developers of affordable housing, including acquisition, pre-development, construction and bridge financing.

Grants.gov

The largest repository of federal government grants, Grant.gov serves as a resource for Hispanic-owned and other businesses looking to access and apply for federal funding opportunities.

Operating under the Office of Management and Budget, Grants.gov centralizes more than 1,000 grant programs across federal grant-making agencies. Additionally, it standardizes grant data, application materials, and procedures for locating and submitting federal awards.

If you're a business owner who believes you'll qualify for a grant, you must register on the website to apply.